SHEGUIANDAH— This year’s Sheguiandah Fall Fair held Saturday, September 18 at the Centennial Museum of Sheguiandah provided a marvelous celebration of all things agricultural and heritage for residents to peruse.
A battalion of local volunteers gathered to adjudicate and tag the hundreds of submissions made to this year’s event. As the first, second and third place ribbons were tacked to the tags, recorders followed along behind writing down the hidden names.
On Saturday the doors opened on the exhibits as well as a number of displays featuring live action demonstrations. Inside the museum members of the Manitoulin Weavers and Spinners were plying their skills, moving wool through the three phases of production into cloth just as our ancestors would have done when settlers first arrived on Manitoulin’s shores. Manitoulin Island’s only master spinner Linda Noble was spinning the wool combed and carded into readiness for the wheel by Susan Hart while weaver Jane Little turned the resulting yarn into cloth on a small loom, while rancher Richard Lathwell (whose alpacas supplied the raw materials) looked on.
photos by Michael Erskine
Meanwhile, outside the museum carpenter Detlef Heiser was planing rough boards into finished lumber, utilizing a series of hand tools and clamps that would have been familiar to tradesmen more than a 150 years ago.
This year’s overall adult winner for the most entries was Carol Sheppard, while the youth (school-aged) winner for the most entries was Joshua Harley.
One of the most popular displays each year is the fleet of vintage tractors displayed on the front lawn of the museum, but this year also featured a vintage 1917 Excelsior motorcycle owned by Pat Julig.
The Sheguiandah Fall Fair is sponsored by the Manitoulin Genealogy Club and the Centennial Museum Advisory Committee.
