The canoes and paddles have only just been put away, but the Lakeland Interpretive Society is already making plans for the next Portage La Biche Rendezvous.
The canoes and paddles have only just been put away, but the Lakeland Interpretive Society is already making plans for the next Portage La Biche Rendezvous.
This year, the Society took over organizing the weekend-long tribute to the voyageurs and the fur trade, which took place June 20-21. On the Saturday morning, four teams of canoeists paddled from the Lac La Biche Mission to the beach in McArthur Park.
On the Sunday, there were canoe races along the hamlet waterfront and a display of classic automobiles arranged by the Lac La Biche Antiques Society.
Despite the attractions, organizers had some trouble getting people out for the day.
There were some difficulties with recruiting participants before Saturday’ s “voyage”-all but one of the original teams had to be replaced in a hurry-but organizers say the event was successful nevertheless.
“I’ m very happy with it. I think we met all of our goals,” said Shirley Klyne, who volunteers in the Regional Museum and Discovery Centre in McArthur Place. “The feedback that I got from our paddlers was phenomenal. We didn’ t have all of the paddlers that we thought we’ d have, so it was great to see the community step up.”
The point of the event was to give participants and onlookers a taste of what went into the creation of Lac La Biche as a settlement hundreds of years ago.
“Our goal was to recreate history,” Klyne said.
In 1798, Welsh voyageur David Thompson became the first documented European to reach Lac la Biche Lake. In the years that followed, the fur trade sustained the frontier settlement, which was situated along the continental divide and was therefore at something of a crossroads.
“Who knows what else might have started Lac La Biche, but that’ s the thing that inspired people to come here,” said Klyne.
The canoeists last weekend may not have been paddling boats loaded with furs, but members of the Edmonton House Brigade gave the event a historic feel with bagpipes and black powder salutes.
Although the Rendezvous saw a lower turnout than she wanted, Klyne has high hopes for the next event.
“Hopefully more people will come and they’ ll bring others another year,” she said.
