12 Souris-Moose Creek Region Living Heritage Community Project
A project led by Tami Scott,
Town of Oxbow
Tami Scott, a community leader and former town employee in Oxbow, described the need for awareness about the history and heritage that shaped and continues to shape the community in Southeastern Saskatchewan. With the desire to make the unique stories of their region come alive for both visitors and residents, a living heritage project was born. Tami said, “when I first started reading about living heritage, I was really excited because it was something I could relate to. And I think that is the case with most people. If […] you define [living heritage] not in terms of things or places, but [rather] the stories around them, I think a lot of people [can] relate to that and say, ‘[…] you know I can remember my grandma telling me stories about this [or] I can remember seeing a video about this’.”
Tami and other community enthusiasts, such as Marieke de Roos and Genelle Remple, put in place a plan to encourage participation and awareness of Oxbow’s living heritage. The concepts of living heritage had captured the attention of certain town leaders who decided to join the project.
The project started with a workshop involving community members and Heritage Saskatchewan’s Director of Living Heritage to brainstorm and inventory the components of heritage that affects the community on a regular basis. A wide variety of interested people joined the workshop to gain a better understanding of what living heritage meant. Tami explained that the community of Oxbow and surrounding area wanted to workshop how to deal with their own living heritage. They discussed various topics such as food and diet, history, and celebrations. They started by making flip charts with the participating community members to identify aspects of their local living heritage. A unique aspect of this project is that the input of newcomers to the region helped to identify aspects of the Oxbow area living heritage. They identified traditions that locals may not have been brought up otherwise, since their own living heritage is so deeply rooted within the culture of the community that it is not always easy to pinpoint.
A number of components came from the workshop discussions. A main thread of information was a brochure of the area that outlined the unique heritage of the community. The brochure was handed out to all community members to encourage and foster a sense of place, belonging, and pride in their own community and in their heritage. They then circulated their brochure at the campgrounds and Moose Creek Park near their community. They also developed a self-guided driving tour and walking tour that are available to the public. The largest part of this project was the video vignette component which features interviews with people from the region. The vignettes also included photos of the region. There were about eight videos total with each being approximately three minutes long. This incorporated aspects of storytelling, knowledge preservation, and community heritage.
The efforts of Tami Scott and the Town of Oxbow are a prime example of living heritage in action. The brochure, the vignettes, and the walking tour projects are all tangible examples of how living heritage manifests itself in Oxbow. Though many communities have travel brochures, the Oxbow brochure highlights how its living heritage makes it a unique place in Saskatchewan.
The Town of Oxbow presents maps and other information for its walking tours.
