Southeast Newcomer Services (SNS) is organizing first-time activities and some annual events in the next couple of months.
Their inaugural bannock and campfire story night will be held at the Souris Valley Museum on Aug. 25, from 6-9 p.m.
“We’re going to have some aboriginal stories and make some campfire bannock, which will be a first for me,” said Stephanie Kane Davis, the program co-ordinator for SNS.
A strawberry picking day will be at Taylor Farms in the Glen Ewen area on Sept. 8. Participants will depart Estevan at 9 a.m., and spend much of the day out there. A picnic lunch will be served.
Young people love picking berries, she said, and it’s a popular event with adults, too.
“The majority of newcomers have never picked berries from where they came from, and there are Canadians who are newcomers to here (Estevan), and where they come from, they don’t have strawberry farms to go out and just pick strawberries,” she said.
The second annual Women’s Cultural Dance and Arts Night will be on Sept. 22 at the Western Star Hotel in Estevan. Those who attend will create a painting, but hair braiding and henna tattoos are among the other activities that will be offered. Cultural food and dance will be other attractions taking place.
It was a popular event last year, Kane Davis said, so SNS wanted to host it again this year.
“I don’t think they realized how many other activities were going to be involved in that night, instead of just painting, so it was nice to have women really bond together,” said Kane Davis. “Everybody got over their shyness, and we all danced around.”
SNS has also started preparing for the Collage Cultural Festival, which will be on Sept. 29 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Estevan Exhibition building. Dances, cultural foods, Henna tattoos and workshops will be among the highlights.
Collage has alternated between Estevan and Weyburn in recent years.
A number of entertainers have already been booked, and Kane Davis said SNS is still looking for additional performers.
The International Kitchen, which allows people to prepare and enjoy meals from around the world, will make its return on Sept. 13 with an Asian cuisine night. A Filipino cooking night will happen two weeks later.
International kitchen will be at 6 p.m. at the Nicholson Centre every second week. Participants will enjoy cultural foods that they prepared at the end of the night. A couple more international kitchen nights are planned for this fall, but the dates and the meals haven’t been finalized.
SNS wanted to have it start up earlier than September, but the grants weren’t available until September.
The annual garden challenge, which was launched in the spring, is well underway. Cucumbers are growing well. Swiss chard, lettuce, corn and other vegetables are also doing well this summer.
“It’s been a really good harvest this year,” she said.
