MINTO – A national celebration of arts and culture is returning to hundreds of communities across Ontario for the 14th anniversary of Ontario Culture Days.
Initiated in 2010, The Culture Days national organization has supported a Canada-wide network of arts, culture and heritage to facilitate free public events in communities each year.
The organization works with provincial partners, including Ontario, to produce a variety of events highlighting the importance of arts and culture in Canada.
“Minto is actually recognized nationally in our category for having a great number of events in our population class,” Minto cultural roundtable committee member Gordon Duff told the Advertiser.
Culture days was inspired by the success of Québec’s Journées de la culture, a weekend dedicated to celebrating diverse art forms.
Duff explained his participation in the event began when Minto got involved in 2014.
“I think the definition of culture has certainly changed, it’s much broader,” he said. “It’s not just arts and crafts.”
Ontario Culture Days is scheduled for Sept. 20 to Oct. 13 and will include events such as farmers’ markets, dance workshops, tile painting workshops and astronomy experiences in Minto, Wellington North, Mapleton and Hanover.
Apples and Astronomy
Duff’s personal favourite is the Apples and Astronomy event, set this year for Sept. 21 from 6 to 10pm.
Guests can tour David and Jean Anderson’s apple orchard while enjoying sweet treats as the night sky arrives. Binoculars and a telescope will be set up for those interested to view the stars in the countryside at 6362 3rd Line, northeast of Palmerston.
“They have a heritage apple orchard and Jean is always making delicious apple fritters or ciders or some other concoction,” Duff noted.
Tile painting workshop
A global tile workshop will be the first Minto event, occurring on Sept. 21 at the Minto Arts Gallery from 10:30am to 12pm.
The workshop consists of guests painting tiles as part of a nation-wide mosaic mural.
Palmerston library events
The last scheduled event happens on Oct. 9 from 1 to 2:30pm at the Palmerston Library, where adults are invited to learn how to use a Cricut machine to create and embellish projects.
Participants will also be creating a watercolour painting.
All events must be free to attend or offer an optional pay-what-you-may admission, according to Culture Days officials.
“We’re trying to appeal to all age groups from toddlers to seniors,” he added.
With that in mind the cultural roundtable has been working closely with the Wellington County Library branches in the area.
Duff noted the library’s support when offering event options for both children and adults, whether that’s workshops at the library or craft kits being available to take home.
Registration
Due to supplying materials and space limitation issues, guests will need to pre-register for five events in the Minto Culture Days schedule.
Events in need of registration include:
- the global tile workshop;
- craft and create: thankful signs (adults) with the library;
- All Aboard Palmerston’s tiny trains chug through time;
- Cricut creations: watercolour picture (adults) with the library; and
- Minto Dance Academy’s free movement workshops on Sept. 28 and Oct. 5.
For more details surrounding Culture Days in Minto and registration visit the town’s website at town.minto.on.ca/events or the Ontario Culture Days website onculturedays.ca.
Although Minto has a wide range of events, the town and surrounding areas will not have a culture hub or a festival hub, as they tend to be implemented in larger locations.
The hubs were created to allow local partners to act as a community lead for the festival.
“The nearest one to us is Guelph because we’re rural and we don’t have one central arts complex,” Duff noted.
The 15 hubs are located all across Ontario spanning as far as Gananoque and 1000 Islands, a small town near Kingston with a population of just over 5,000 residents.
Culture Days changes
For the first 11 years of Culture Days it was concentrated in the last week of September, stated Duff.
Over time the organization has changed from a one-weekend event to a three-week culture marathon.
“I think that makes it much easier on the organizers, facilitators and the attendees as they don’t feel pressured to madly run around in three days and try to get to everything,” stated Duff.
He noted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how people “missed a chance to gather and celebrate and interact and build community.”
The social touch of various events diminished as they switched to an online space during those times.
“It’s something that brings people together and we need more of that these days,” he said.
An Indigenous celebration will be hosted by the Minto diversity, equity and inclusion committee. It will include stories, music, learning and sweetgrass ice cream.
The celebration will take place at the Harriston Minto Community Complex on Sept. 25 from 6 to 8pm. A $10 ticket is required to attend the event.
