Culture is based upon many things, including dance, music, art and food and drink; all of it adding a distinct flair to the identity of a group of people.
The Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre (CMAGS) is basing its upcoming fundraiser for the North West Mounted Police barracks on food and drink with the Sept. 28 launch of the Canmore Community Cookbook.
Museum staff and volunteers will begin collecting recipes from residents at a recipe swap during Alberta Culture Days, which will be held at the barracks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“The project started off with Alberta Culture Days and thinking about things that comprise culture and one of the big ones is food and drink, especially in a place like Canmore where we have something like 75 restaurants. We’re such a foodie town,” said Victoria Ryves, CMAGS community enrichment and volunteer co-ordinator, Monday (Sept. 16).
“We thought it would be fun to get recipes from current residents and tie it into the community with the idea that almost every family has a recipe that you pass down,” she said.
Members of Ralph Connor Memorial United Church produced a community cookbook in 1953 that the museum has in its archives and it served to inspire the project, as well.
The museum is asking residents to bring family recipes for the Canmore Community Cookbook that will be released on Family Day 2014.
“You come with your family recipe, write it down and it is written on carbon copy so one copy goes into the cookbook and another goes on a washing line. So everyone who submits a recipe is able to take one from the line. The idea is you might discover a new family favourite. You can’t take one without submitting one,” she said.
The museum is also seeking recipes for home remedies and homemade cosmetics, along with project sponsors and photographs of residents at work in their kitchens.
Along with the recipe swap, the barracks is hosting crafts for the kids and live music with The Wardens. Art in the Park will also take place that day.
Funds raised by the community cookbook will go towards repairs to the barracks, a provincial historic resource.
Ryves said the museum is hoping to raise at least $2,500, the amount of a provincial matching grant.
