Morden Corn & Apple Festival

Yesterday, I joined many others as Corn and Apple Nation descended on Morden for the 45^th annual Corn and Apple Festival. I had not been there in over 30 years and, at the last minute, I decided that it was time to check it out again.

On the way there, we went through Carman, home of Eddie “The Eagle” Belfour, a key member of the 1999 Stanley Cup Champion Dallas Stars.

The memory of that championship season still brings a smile to my face and likely always will. For those that don’t know, since the “real” Jets left Winnipeg, I have two favorite NHL teams: the Dallas Stars and whoever will be playing Mark Chipman’s personal hockey team.

I was relieved that we did not stop at the Roland Golf Club.

I’m sure it’s a fine place to golf, for those who are so inclined, but we didn’t need to stop there on the way to the Peace Gardens earlier this month and we didn’t need to stop there yesterday either.

Traffic was quite bad as we took a less conventional route to Morden, turning west on PTH 23, then south on PR 432. Traffic was even worse when we got there.

Not only was there a Tim Hortons location at the light ahead, which can bring about a traffic jam in the middle of a farmer’s field, but we were moments away from the start of the parade. Apparently, it’s a really big deal in this part of the S.P.R.M. and we were in the thick of it all.

After de-bussing, I chose to go off the beaten path and I probably got some strange looks as I passed by so many people with lawn chairs in hand headed in the opposite direction. I’m surprised someone didn’t ask if I was lost.

I stopped to take a picture of this overhead sign draped across PTH 3/Thornhill Street on my way to Morden Park.

This is a scenic park nestled along Dead Horse Creek that was comparatively free of the hustle and bustle several blocks away.

On my way back to the center of town, I saw some other interesting sights.

I know that at least one reader will appreciate this picture. First, he gets a disease named after him, now he has a furniture store all his own.

Leftovers from the parade that could be heard all over town.

Nice homes in this growing community.

There was not a parking spot to be had anywhere in town. I’m sure the locals appreciate the money the festival brings in every year, but the streets were literally jam-packed with parked cars.

Hockey Night in Morden.

The old court house.

Not that I enjoy crowds, but I did want to check out Stephen Street, where all the commotion was taking place.

The midway on the east side of town.

The line for ride tickets.

$9 for a bag of cotton candy?

More rides as you move west.

This was the line for Bessie’s Famous Shish-Ka-Bobs.

And this was the shish-ka-bob outdoor kitchen.

Rest assured I was not ever part of this line.

Moving on, I came across the line for the free corn that attracts crowds from near and far.

This was just the front of the line. It stretched another block long. I would have appreciated the corn, but I wasn’t inclined to spend my day in line waiting for it.

There were plenty of public washrooms available in trailers such as these. It’s an excellent idea and I only wish other festivals in Manitoba made similar provisions for their guests, such as the Lily Festival in Neepawa, for example.

  

Clowns entertaining passers-by.

As I predicted, I ran out of energy before I ran out of time, so I strolled back to Morden Park to put up my feet and relax before our bus ride home.

On the way back, we took a very different and circuitous route home. I had not known that there were so many ways to get from Winnipeg to Morden, but I learned a couple of new ones on this trip. The bus driver told us that there was construction work on PTH 75 and presumably, that’s why he was avoiding it.

We went through KANE, as opposed to Kane. It didn’t dawn on me until I got home, but Kane is the surname of a player on the last squad of the Atlanta Thrashers. The young man is about to go from one badly-run team to another.

After passing through KANE, we went through LOWE FARM.

A short time later, we made it to Rosenort. The distance was barely noticeable due to the fact that we were travelling at 120 km/h for most of the way since leaving Winkler. All I can say is that I was glad that this driver, unlike the driver we had last week, wasn’t balancing his meal on the steering wheel. For those that are not aware, the speed limit on most Manitoba highways is 100 km/h. Sadly, far too many motorists feel that this posted speed limit is a minimum, not a maximum.

Rosenort has their own arena.

On the right is the Rosenort Subway.

Eventually, we reached PTH 75 and we found out why the driver had been avoiding it as best he could. The condition of one of Manitoba’s most well-travelled and important highways was worse than most of the side roads we had used to get there.

This is a shot taken just north of Ste. Agathe. They were doing road work south of Ste. Agathe and it was obviously needed.

In any event, it was an interesting day out in Morden, but the town would likely have been better experienced at any other time besides when the popular Corn and Apple Festival is taking place. I hope to get that opportunity at some point.