Heritage Park features over 180 attractions and exhibits that reflect the challenges, lives and victories experienced by the generations responsible for the settlement of Western Canada.
In many cases, the houses, stores and machinery at each exhibit are original.
Heritage Park features over 180 attractions and exhibits that reflect the challenges, lives and victories experienced by the generations responsible for the settlement of Western Canada. It's a great day out for the whole family.
"Welcome to the schoolhouse..." said a young lady in front of a blackboard, "I teach grades 1-9 here."
Fresh-faced with her hair pulled back in a bun, long-sleeved blouse modestly clasped at the neck with a cameo brooch and a long skirt of sturdy material, the interpreter acted her part sweetly. I looked around the one room school with knee high wooden desks and lessons written in chalk and imagined it bustling with squirming farm and town children longing to be outside to play.
Canada's largest living museum
This is Heritage Park Historical Village; Canada's largest living museum. Displays and exhibits span four key areas of Western Canada's settlement period from the 1860's to the 1950's and offer a great way for the entire family to step away from the rat race of today, and board a train for a simpler time.
And yes, it's a real train.Little one's - especially Thomas the Tank Engine fans - will delight as a conductor calls "All aboard" and the authentic steam train chugs out of the station. They watch with wide-eyed delight as the whistle blows and the train passes the farm with horses, pigs, sheep and chickens.Now the kiddies can either have the thrill of the antique fair rides or a wagon ride pulled by the farm horses.
It will be hard to pull Dad's and Granddad's out of the Gasoline Alley Museum, with its early 1900's fully restored cars and street scenes, plus it has a ride-em area for the tykes. There's even a bi-plane if you look up to the rafters.
Mom's can enjoy a cool drink in the Wainwright Hotel or a visit to the pharmacy for a wide range of remedies.
A simple walk down Main Street
Still, no visit to Heritage Park is complete without a simple walk down Main Street. It is like being in an episode of Little House on the Prairie as girls dressed like Laura Ingalls carry home-made cookies in a basket and chatter with the innocence and exuberance of Anne of Green Gables.
Mosey into the Newspaper building where newspapers were laboriously assembled on the printing press or watch the carpenter work on wooden toys. You can even shoot a game of snooker at the Pool Hall and then head to the village church to offer your winnings. In the background, you may hear the banging of the blacksmith as he makes horseshoes. Even homes are open to offer a peek into the home life of this bygone era.
Summertime is the time to enjoy the seasonal warmth with an ice cream in hand. In wintertime, the Park opens its gates for The 12 days of Christmas when a hot chocolate will warm you from the inside in much the same way the nostalgia does.