by PAUL RAYNER

One of the longest running and most significant events in Boissevain and the area will be celebrating 75 years with both a glance backward and a look at the present.

The 2009 4-H Rally, to be held on Friday, June 5, 2009 on the Turtle Mountain Ag Society grounds in Boissevain, will be the 75th annual event. The clubs and the names participating have changed many times since 1934, but the basic value of 4-H has not. This is what they want to celebrate and according to rally treasurer and Boissevain Beef Club head leader Karen Patterson, they have been working on it for some time.

“We have been talking about it for a couple of years,” Patterson said, “We thought about creating a separate committee for it, but we decided just to do it with help.”

Rally Day will have many of the same components of other years. There will be the parade, the horse shows, cattle shows and sale, the club projects on display in the arena. But there will be twists here and there to celebrate the 75 years and the people who have been involved.

For example, there are the gold watch winners. The gold watch has been awarded for 4-H excellence since 1952. Patterson said they sent between 150 and 200 letters to former gold watch winners, with the hope they will return. She said they have had a few responses, with people planning to come from as far away as BC or Minnesota. They will have a special float in the parade. Some clubs will also be creating special floats this year to celebrate the event.

As well as gold watch winners, they have also invited all past Boissevain Ag Office staff, as they are the ones who used to organize each rally.

They are planning a special luncheon this year with beef on a bun for the public. Those attending will receive a re-usable grocery bag with the special 4-H logo created by Dustin Coupland of Boissevain.

At the noon show, they have invited several dignitaries, with Manitoba Agricultural Minister Rosann Wowchuk agreeing to attend. They will also be giving some attention to members of 4-H from the years gone by.

“We’re going to recognize past 4-H members. We’ll start in the 2000’s, then the 1990’s and move on down. We just want to acknowledge them.”

There will also be a release of 75 balloons with the 4-H logo at the noon show. After, thanks to the Turtle Mountain Conservation District, 4-H members will be planting trees behind the Lions ball diamonds. They will also all receive a tree to plant at home.

During the beef sale, the Killarney and Boissevain beef clubs will be giving a surprise token to each steer buyer.

“It is a token of thanks for all of the support we get from past and present beef buyers,” Patterson explained.

All past 4-H scrapbooks will be on display in the curling rink, and a DVD of photos will also be on sale as a souvenir.

Patterson gives a great deal of credit for the event to volunteers like Leona Peters and Muriel McCallum, who in particular did an amazing amount of research for the rally.

She added that she has learned a lot about the history during the time they were organizing the event.

“It has changed so much over the years. There were never local buyers in the beginning. The cattle went on a truck to Winnipeg. It is amazing how often the club names changed. They started small and slowly amalgamated into bigger ones.”

Patterson said 4-H, which runs clubs for almost any possible interest, is still running strong. Part of the reason it is important is because of what it brings to each member.

“I think 4-H to me,” she explained, “the projects are not the biggest assets. Things like the speechmaking, how to run a meeting properly, how to address people properly, to acknowledge people properly. You are learning how to run a club or group, which is what we are looking for in a small community. It will help our community in the future as it has in the past.”

Most of the clubs, she said, have as much as a 10-year age span. This gives the younger ones friends who are older in school, role models to look up to.

Many of the benefits, she said, are the same ones they were 75 years ago.

“It is amazing in the responses we had to letters from the gold watch winners, how much they appreciated their time in 4-H and what it taught them and how much it made a difference in their lives.”

Patterson said they are hoping for 500 people for lunch. The more people who come to the 75th Rally, the better.

“I feel it is about people coming together to celebrate 4-H,” she stated, “its past, its present, its future. It’s like a reunion, people who moved away get to come back and see the community again. I think it is definitely why the committee put the time and effort into it, to make it special.”