If you believe the signage, Morinville’s annual St. Jean Baptiste Festival is all about community, heritage and pride.
And all three were on display last weekend. Thousands came out to take in the parade, the midway, the show and shine and some live music, and the community pride was apparent in speaking to residents.
“It’s a beautiful place to live,” said longtime resident Murray Knight. “We have good volunteer spirit, and we have good community-minded people,” he said. “When you live in a good community you want to be a part of it.”
He said he’s involved with a few different volunteer groups in town, and the motivation for starting the St. Jean Baptiste Festival eight years ago was to give something back to the residents. It quickly outgrew its original home in Baptiste Park next to the Catholic Church, and has spread through downtown Morinville.
Knight was setting up tables and chairs in the park Saturday morning in preparation for a free event to honour the area’s seniors, who he said are crucial to the town’s success over the years.
“Our demographic in this community is young families. It’s growing, and it needs to have young families, but you know what? If it wasn’t for us old guys we wouldn’t have any of this,” he said through a big grin.
Donna Garrett, an attendant at the MusĂ©e Morinville Museum, certainly knows that to be true. She explained the area’s first European settlers faced a rough journey to the area and some rough work to get through the first couple of winters.
“The first matter was survival. They had to build their rough shelters and plant their crops to survive the winter,” she said.
Despite that hard work, though, a thriving community developed around the Catholic church, with the French- and German-speaking immigrants finding commonality in their faith.
These days the Catholic church organization plays a less prominent role in the life of Morinville residents, but the church building itself continues to have a cultural significance for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
“The church has been designated a provincial historical resource, so it’s important not just for the Catholics but also as an icon for the community,” Garrett said.
Heading south from Baptiste Park toward the show and shine, which had several blocks of the residential area closed to traffic while classic and antique car enthusiasts displayed their collections.
Theresa Smith stopped to look at an old Ford Falcon, noting her grandfather’s friend had a car just like it when she was a child, said the community spirit is one of the things she likes best about living in Morinville.
She moved with her husband and two preschool-age children within the last year, looking for something a bit quieter than Edmonton but still close to the city’s amenities. At the time, she didn’t realize how much she would prefer it to living in the city.
“I like Morinville, (it) still has kind of a small-town feel to it,” she said. “And there’s lots of different groups around town putting on one event or another.”
For Austin, four, the best part of Morinville can be summed up in one short sentence.
“I like the splash park,” he said.
Morinville’s appeal, and that of the St. Jean Baptiste Festival, extends beyond the community itself. Some among the crowd last weekend weren’t residents, but just came for the festivities.
It was the first visit for Edmonton resident Wendy Kowalchuk, who had four elementary-aged children in tow at the midway on Saturday afternoon.
“We just thought we would try to go to more of the small-town festivals around Edmonton this summer,” she said, adding she wasn’t disappointed.
“I like this festival. It’s like K-Days but it’s way less sleazy and there’s free parking.”
