Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

The community’s annual Culture Days celebration takes place at the end of September and organizers are encouraging people to participate in the free events.

Kindersley Culture Days, a local edition of a provincial and national celebration, is scheduled for Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. There are three events planned over the three days.

However, one of the events will only take place if enough people register to participate.

Michelle McMillan, the town’s manager of culture and heritage, said two events are guaranteed to take place on the Culture Days weekend and a third, a showcase of local cuisine, will take place if enough cooks sign up by the deadline.

The Kindersley Kitchen, an event formerly known as the K-Town Chowdown, requires cooks or bakers to sign up to prepare food for a large group of people. Citizens cook their hot dishes or prepare other foods in the afternoon and serve the food to the public. Cooks provide receipts for their ingredients and are reimbursed by organizers, so the event doesn’t cost them anything but their time.

McMillan said the cooks will gather at the Elks Hall and have from noon to 4 p.m. to prepare their food. The hall’s doors open to the public at 4 p.m. and the event runs until 6 p.m. People have until Sept. 20 to register as cooks and a minimum of six cooks are needed.

Contact McMillan by email at [email protected] or by phone at 306-463-2675 if you would like to register. The Chowdown draws 200 to 300 people on average, so it’s a popular event.

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The first Culture Days event takes place on Sept. 29 at the Garden Gallery on Main Street from 4 to 6 p.m. It’s an Artist Expression Workshop hosted by Devon Coles. McMillan believes people will get to take something home with them from the event. She noted that the artist will have a fun hands-on and interactive activity for people to try and it will be something related to the visual arts.

The second event takes place on Sept. 30 at the Elks Hall from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. The Kindersley Whirls and Twirls dance group is hosting A Taste of Square Dance that will include demonstrations and lessons. The group plans to serve crepes, a square dance tradition.

McMillan said the town received funding from Saskatchewan Culture in 2017 that allows the events to be free. Coles and the Whirls and Twirls group were partners on the funding application, she said. Whirls and Twirls are celebrating 60 years in 2017.

“It’s important for people to realize this unique opportunity to participate in three days of cultural programming,” she added. The three free events highlight talents and opportunities within the community.

Sharon Haubrich, a member of the Kindersley Culture Plan Advisory Committee, is putting out a personal challenge to community members to “relish” the Culture Days celebration and the K-Town Chowdown in particular.

She noted that although the advisory committee has completed its task of helping to develop the Kindersley Culture Plan, events such as Culture Days were discussed by committee members during the process. Haubrich is challenging people to sign up as cooks.

She plans to make rhubarb jam using a favourite new recipe and will serve the jam at the Chowdown, as long as six people get involved by showing off their favourite dishes. The cooks don’t have to prepare full meals.

One suggestion is for people to make relishes or jams and get the simple ingredients they need for the food that goes best with the condiment. Haubrich said people could serve anything from appetizers to desserts, so the options are wide open.

She said the Chowdown is always fun and people say they enjoy the event. Haubrich said she was told by McMillan that there were no entries for the Chowdown, so they started to discuss how to encourage participation.

That’s when Haubrich came up with the idea for people to share a condiment. For example, she said people could bring bread for a jam or serve hot dogs with a relish.

Contact Haubrich by email at [email protected] for more information.

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© Kindersley Clarion