Honour your family's pioneer woman and help us build this sculpture
The cost per dedication is $1,500 and will add her name to the sculpture project. Participating families will be invited to the unveiling. Applicants are welcome to submit their pioneer's story along with the submission. Please inquire about other involvement and sponsor recognition at: info@SaskatoonGermanDays.ca
Click here for the application form - unveiling at River Landing is scheduled for September 20, 2009
How the Project Started
In 2005 the province of Saskatchewan celebrated its centennial. One of many events celebrated were Saskatoon German Days, held for the first time since 1932.
The Saskatoon German Days Organizing Committee felt pioneer men have often been given deserved credit for clearing and ploughing the land by hand. However, the women laboured side by side with the men, and in addition prepared the meals, looked after small children and made caring homes out of bare, sod dwellings. Yet the pioneer women in Saskatchewan are largely uncelebrated.
The two-day celebration of Saskatoon German Days changed that by recognizing and honouring all pioneer women as the “unsung heroes” of our history. We need to remember the valour and pain and thus honour the purpose of their lives. All of us owe a great debt to these women. We are standing on the shoulders of their achievements and our own accomplishments would not be possible without theirs. Special guest speaker Margaret Dutli, former St. Thomas More College professor, reflected on the contributions of German-speaking pioneer women. She paid tribute to the “life-giving, life-sustaining work of these women in the face of isolation, loneliness, prejudice and hardship”. Yet they succeeded in building a new life on the prairie, forming the foundation for future generations.
The Saskatoon German Days Committee felt compelled to honour the legacy of Saskatchewan’s pioneer women with the creation of a bronze sculpture to be placed in one of Saskatoon’s public parks.
After some research the perfect work of art in form of a larger than life sculpture titled “Egg Money” was chosen, created by artists Don and Shirley Begg of Studio West Bronze Foundry in Cochrane, Alberta.
To finance the sculpture, the committee is looking for donations of $ 1,500 each from families who would like to have the name of their mother or grandmother permanently added to the sculpture project. Although the project is sponsored by the German community of Saskatoon all nationalities are welcome to have their pioneer women represented. A number of names have been received already. Some of these families collected the amount of $ 1,500 from many contributors and several generations. All contributing families will be invited to the festival, for the unveiling of the sculpture, planned for September 20, 2009.
This sculpture will be the perfect place to talk to the younger generation of the women that have gone before them, hence it will become a bridge from the past to the present to the future. So much historical architecture or structural heritage of the prairie is lost from the past. Let us honour the aspect of the people of our heritage - especially that of the pioneer women.
