Art and fashion show at the Civic Centre

Times Reporter

 

Though the main focus of the Strathmore Stampede may be the rodeo and the chuckwagons, that’s not all that is being offered. In the Civic Centre is the Horticulture and Creative Arts show. 

Adults and kids alike are able to enter into the arts and crafts and foods categories. There are a variety of painting and drawing mediums being judged as well as a photography section, and other handicrafts such as beading, knitting and crocheting. 

Adults only will be able to enter in the canning and preserving events, flowers, plants, grains and grasses and the fruits and vegetables categories. Entries will be taken in on Thursday night, judged Friday morning and then displayed throughout the weekend. 

The fashion show, which was at the Civic Centre during the last Strathmore Stampede, is making a comeback. Beginning Saturday at 2 p.m. the show will be a historical review of our province through fashion, said Donna Treacy, horticulture and creative arts board member. 

 “We really did it for the 100th of Strathmore and it’s sort of going to be the same idea but with some variations because we can’t get the same models,” said Treacy.

“This year we’re going to do a tribute to the Calgary Stampede at the end of Saturday’s (event) and it will be about an hour.” 

The show will begin with fashions from the First Nations, then the trappers, the missionaries, and a 1913 wedding dress that belonged to Treacy’s mother-in-law. The show will continue on showing fashions from each decade until it reaches present day. 

On Sunday will be another show, also beginning at 2 p.m., which will focus on celebrating our ethnic roots, said Treacy. 

“To be very honest I think it’s important to retain our heritage, and to appreciate our heritage and the values put forth by those who preceded us,” said Treacy. 

Also on display in the horticulture and creative arts display is a tablecloth that was first created in 1948 by Irene, a teacher hired as the circuit home economics teacher for the Wheatland School Division.  She traveled to five schools within the division, Carseland Standard, Rockyford, Strathmore and Katherine. Irene designed the cloth and each student from that year was to have his or her family name embroidered onto the cloth. The tablecloth was given to Treacy who had kept in touch with her former teacher Irene.

“It is now completed and it will be on display. There are 101 names on the cloth and if former students from that year wish to see it, it will be there,” said Treacy. 

Everything in the Civic Centre is free and open to everyone.