Manitoba Day May 12th, 2008
Our 138th Birthday Party!

And the winner of the Made-in-Manitoba Gift Basket was the Gimli Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee (MHAC) and the New Iceland Heritage Museum (NIHM) for their partnership in the official opening of If These Walls Could Talk at NIHM on May 12th, Manitoba Day. The gift basket – full of wonderful Manitoba delicacies - was presented to Wally Johannson, Chair of the Gimli MHAC and Tammy Axelsson, Executive Director of NIHM and accepted on behalf of the MHAC Committee Members, NIHM staff, and project volunteers. No doubt this excellent heritage partnership will extend itself into a very tasty get together to celebrate their success!

If These Walls Could Talk depicts some of the finest examples of the built heritage and historic development of Gimli. It consists of 14 pictorial panels with written commentary, along with a 10 minute video and PowerPoint presentation, which was the result of a heritage building inventory conducted by the MHAC during the summer of 2007. Local student artwork celebrating our province's 138th birthday was also featured as part of the exhibit.

This heritage project has helped Gimli in many ways. It has given the community a process to better understand and better manage its heritage resources; it's helped to foster community pride; provided opportunities for local youth and volunteers; and they participated in an event that showcases the community's heritage and honours its contributors. If These Walls Could Talk will not remain static; it will travel and become part of the community from which it was created.

Yes the Gimli MHAC and NIHM partnership won the gift basket, but the heritage community won too. Forty community museums and heritage organizations submitted their Manitoba Day events to the AMM and all were featured on the AMM and the Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport webpage. The partnership was a resounding success. The heritage community was featured front and centre as enthusiastic partners and supporters of youth and community-based events and activities.

The AMM and our partner, the Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, thank you for your participation for this new Manitoba Day initiative. The AMM and Historic Resources will be partnering again for Manitoba Day 2009 to celebrate and promote our heritage. With the success of this first effort, just imagine what our partnership can do next year!!