St. Mary’s Anglican Church at 3337 15th Ave, was a 20 minute walk under the shade of elms. The sun was warm and a breeze played with my hair. Along the way, I met another woman who was on her way. We enjoyed our brisk walk together sharing stories of our love of dogs.
Saskatoons have played a part in my life since I was a child. As a family, we picked these favourite berries in a community pasture. Empty ice cream buckets soon were filled with the delicious purple fruit and, once in the kitchen, transformed into pies and containers of frozen saskatoons. I don’t recall if mom made jams, or syrups but I have since enjoyed both. When I saw the poster advertising this Festival, I was intent on attending. It’s been a really great busy summer, so I really wasn’t certain until this morning of my timing. I was told there were line ups before the Festival opened at 1:30 pm. Saskatoon pies advertised were sold out quickly. Many were ordered for pick up. I was unable to get there until after three, so no saskatoon pie for me. I was limited to a spread, chocolate covered berries and a saskatoon powder for use in smoothies, yogurts or baking. The last is new to me!
My disappointment about no pie was assuaged by the vocals of the Empire Associates, a married couple who have been singing and performing together for many years. Husband on guitar, they sang in harmony, their voices strong and beautiful. I was told that many of their songs were their original music. They interspersed their performance with familiar Johnny Cash songs. All in all it was a lovely afternoon.
When I arrived I had seen, on the church lawn, a young girl contributing to a large painting set between supports. On my way home, I stopped to look at the painting. The artist introduced herself and explained that she had drawn the original sketch for children to fill in throughout the day. She indicated certain places where she had painted and pointed out the children’s art. Such a wonderful thing for her to provide for the children!
“The Cree name for this plant is ‘mis-ask-quah-toomia’,
which early white settlers shortened to ‘saskatoon’. Saskatoon berries were
the most important plant food used by the Blackfoot peoples of the prairies.”
~ plantwatch.naturealberta.ca ~ Human Uses
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