Minto hosting 125th anniversary bash

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This article was published 28/07/2023 (1157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The population of Minto could double or even triple over the next three days, since Westman residents are gathering to celebrate the small farming community’s 125th anniversary.

While the celebration is scheduled to kick off this evening with a large bonfire behind the local skating rink, the meat of the festivities will take place on Saturday.

According to organizing committee member Don Joye, the day will begin with a touch-a-truck event in the morning alongside a show-and-shine car show, with residents also hosting tours of long-standing structures like Minto School.

In the evening, residents will gather for a large community dinner and a street dance event, where they can enjoy some live music and a fireworks display as the sun sets.

The celebration will wrap up on Sunday with a pancake breakfast and the finals of an annual Minto baseball tournament that runs throughout the weekend.

“Everybody’s pitched in and they’re all very helpful, so I think it’s coming together,” Joye told the Sun on Thursday morning. “We’re just crossing our fingers that the rain doesn’t come.”

Speaking as someone who was born and raised in Minto, Joye is pleased with how the weekend is shaping up, especially since around 270 attendees are expected for Saturday’s dinner and dance.

For a community with a population of roughly 85 people, Joye said generating this level of interest is encouraging and speaks to the strong bonds that remain between Minto residents even if they move away.

“There’s lots of socials going on … and we have to do that to survive because we are a small town,” he said. “This (125th anniversary celebration) is the biggest event we’ve had in the last five years.”

Like a lot of small communities in rural Manitoba, Joye admits that Minto has been trying to avoid turning into a ghost town over the past couple of decades.

Remembering what the community looked like during his childhood, the 65-year-old mentioned that several well-established businesses and services have shut down in recent years, with people preferring to visit Brandon or even nearby Boissevain for their retail needs.

Thankfully, Joye said the continued operation of the local kindergarten to Grade 8 school has encouraged younger families to settle in the area, keeping the future bright.

Minto’s fortune took another positive turn in 2017 when former resident Lloyd Campbell, who went on to become a successful developer and boat builder out west, posthumously gifted the community $55,000 a year through an endowment fund.

Joye said that residents decided to invest all this money into children’s recreation programs, with the hope of cultivating an energetic community that has an appetite for events like this upcoming 125th celebration.

“Local businesses were stepping up and looking to donate, so now we can afford some fireworks and things like that,” he said. “It is a big undertaking, but all the volunteers are really good and they work hard.”

The community of Minto is currently part of the Municipality of Grassland, but was originally established in 1898.

It was named after British politician Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, the fourth Earl of Minto, who served as the Governor General of Canada between 1898 and 1904.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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