Organizers of the annual Back to Batoche Days are hoping that those who haven’t had time to visit Batoche in the past can take advantage of the pandemic version of the annual celebration by going online to backtobatochedays.ca
Minister of Batoche Shirley Mclennan says there will be video from last year; demonstrations instead of the competition in the traditional Voyageur games; some of their best fiddlers, square dancers and jiggers have video taped themselves and those performances are also available online.
This would have been the 50th Anniversary of Back to Batcohe but COVID-19 has sidelined any in person plans this year. McLennan says Canadian Geographic was already slated to take part in the celebration of the Metis culture but with the pandemic, they couldn’t be on site to film, so instead helped provide a platform to deliver the celebration virtually. The Virtual Back to Batoche will also include video of a drone over the site.
For Food Truck Alley, instead of tasting different dishes on site, the food vendors are presenting from their own homes giving Metis recipes for virtual Batoche-goers to try out themselves.
There will be a ‘Little Jiggers’ corner for the kids with fun, educational opportunities including the Michif language and some of their elders and knowledge keepers will be speaking in Michif. And the Artisan market gives you a chance to shop for Metis wares online as well.
Minister McLennan says while this should have been their 50th Anniversary, there will be Back to Batoche Days the last week of July and it will be a huge celebration and they are inviting ideas because they want it to be the “biggest and best Batoche ever, next year.”
