St. Albert Takes a Bite out of Local History at the Father Lacombe Chapel!

Daisy churns some home-made ice-cream!

                 Sunday July 21, the Father Lacombe Chapel interpreters and volunteers welcomed over three hundred visitors to Mission Hill, in St. Albert, and dared them to taste food cooked by the interpreters at their annual ‘Taste of the Past’ event. 

        The interpretive team prepared historic recipes, some of which have fallen by the wayside, like Bishop’s Pudding, while others showed visitors a glimpse of how things were done in the past by making home-made ice cream. 

      Two interpreters, Leila and Brett, even made raspberry butter by hand in the days leading up to the event.  Other tasty treats included lemonade, cornmeal muffins, fried blueberries, baked bannock and, the newest addition to our line-up, borscht. All the food bowls were empty by 5 pm so the interpreters must have done something right!

Jane gives a tour of the chapel to guests

    

 The site was also pleased to welcome two volunteers from the Edmonton Weaver’s Guild. These two demonstrated how to use a spinning wheel and offered eager visitors the chance to try their hand at making yarn. Although the spinners made it look easy, anyone that tried spinning found out it is much harder than it looks! This year was the third year we have had the spinners at the event and, at this point, it’s hard for us to imagine the event without them. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our other volunteers from the AHF, Shari, Sharon and Ann, who helped the event run smoothly.

Leila is interviewed by CTV news!

Daisy, Sharon and Leila demonstrate the delicious ice cream making process

As in previous years, the Father Lacombe Chapel accepted donations for the Food Bank. This year, visitors truly outdid themselves and dropped off a staggering 140 pounds of non-perishable food and over $80 at the collection point at the entrance. The generosity of our visitors continues to astound us, thank you all so much!

Sonia waits in the chapel for incoming visitors