When it comes to the hard work that has gone into the Original Humboldt site, the numbers are beyond counting.
The Committee, consisting of five talented members, was honoured for these countless hours with the Volunteer Recognition Award for Prairie Central District for Sport, Culture, and Recreation.
Jared Dezotell Community Consultant with Prairie Central was at the City of Humboldt council meeting on Nov. 14 to present the committee with their $1,000 award.
“The group of volunteers involved in the committee took an 80 acre parcel of prairie land and developed it into a fascinating, living heritage site.”
The art installations, story boards, archeological work, publications, and sharing stories of the land event have taken a lot of work from the committee with work starting in 2008-2009 to raise funds to buy the land of the Original Humboldt site.
“When this project began there was nothing but a field with some proposed archeological material beneath the surface and some potential stories.”
The stories have immerged and the connection with the community has been established, says Dezotell, through the volunteers’ passion, hard work, thoughtful and professional research.
While work continues, the most recent event in June 2017 took a lot of work from the volunteers and staff.
“The volunteers assisted in raising funds, planning the event, conducting research, preparing the land, and in particular building three new art installations.”
Other major aspects of the project, noted Dezotell, has been walkway construction, seeding the area back to natural grasses, fence construction, providing tours and maintaining the site.
Since the beginning of the Original Humboldt project, the committee has been honoured with the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Museums in 2013 and the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Heritage Architecture Awards of Excellence in 2014.
Events on the site have seen a tent full of people to honour the site which shows that the community is engaged and supports the project, says Dezotell.
“One of the primary focuses of the project is to demonstrate the people have a connection to the land, whether it is historical or a contemporary life.”
The project has also been an inspiration to thousands of small city museums across Canada, says Dezotell, who “strive to harvest the passion and conviction of volunteers.”
The hundreds of hours put into the site, especially by Dennis Korte, Rev. Al Hingley, Reynold Fortowsky, Edward Novecosky, and Garry Jenkins is incredible, says Humboldt and District Museum and Gallery Director, Jennifer Fitzpatrick.
Each person brought their own diverse skills to the project, says Fitzpatrick; from research, to funding, to building.
“Together they have a shared passion for the site and respect for the fact that their stewardship is something they do for the community.”
Seeing the committee be recognized in this way is fantastic, says Fitzpatrick.
The $1,000 is going to go towards helping the volunteers upkeep the Original Humboldt site. The volunteers are frequently out at the site during the summer, says Fitzpatrick. The money is going towards lawn equipment to make their work at the site easier, she says.
“They’ll be out there continuing to keep Original Humboldt looking fantastic into 2018.”
