Saturday, June 20 Convention Update

Convention attendees had a number of wonderful tours to choose from this week. Here’s a brief update on the tours not yet covered in the newsletter.

**Historic Clay District—Medicine Hat’s abundant natural resources of natural gas, coal, and clay helped to make it know as the “Pittsburgh of the West.” The clay industry boomed in the early 1900’s and Ron Mason, Education Coordinator, enthusiastically shared his knowledge of the historic Medalta Potteries site. From jiggerman skills to songs about the industry, Ron made the clay industry come to life.

**Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery--What could be better than finding an oasis in the heart of the prairies? This tour wowed us with scenery and attention to detail. The light lunch of beef rouladen, red cabbage and dessert was a welcome accompaniment to the wine tasting.

**Elkwater Hutterite Colony—Tim Geiger was our gracious host and answered many questions as the bus drove to the Elkwater Hutterite Colony. Paul and Susie Hofer welcomed us and a 40 minute film explained much of the Hutterite history. Tours included walks through the church, kitchen, dining areas, laundromat, school, and greenhouse. And, yes, the bus did drive through the dairy barn. Thank goodness the rain held off until we were all boarded on the bus again. Be sure to see Paul and Susie on Saturday morning as they present, “Roots of the Hutterites.”

“A Celebration of Song” featuring the Corpus Christi Male Chorale of Calgary and the German Canadian Harmony Choir of Medicine Hat entertained all with their marvelous harmonies to bring our second day of the convention to a close.

Anyone with information about the missing books from the bookstore, please contact the registration desk.

Volunteers are the life blood of our organization. Please be sure to thank all of the hard-working individuals who make this convention possible.

**Speakers are reminded to submit their talks electronically to Gail Gingrich at gailg@ahsgr.org for publication in the Journal. We have already received many requests from attendees who are interested in reading more about your presentations.

Medalta building and volunteer photo used courtesy of Duane Stabler.

Be sure to view the updates with full color photos and videos online at http://medicinehatconvention2009.blogspot.com/.

Photos will be posted soon.