By Tiffany Williams
Editor
The United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Limited (UFA) has been with Alberta for almost 100 years and has experienced many great milestones along the way.
This year at the Ponoka County Fair the UFA History in Motion trailer, a 53-foot long museum on wheels will be stopping in Ponoka for people to learn a little about Ponoka and the history of the UFA.
Leslie Hall the UFHS history coordinator says that there will be information and pictures on Ponoka as well as interactive exhibits, educational displays, games, videos and more.
“We want to capture the living ongoing vibrant aspect of history, we just don’t want it to be old news,” said Hall.
She says the traveling exhibit, which will make 15 different stops over the summer, has something for everyone especially the children with a large puzzle and other games.
“Its important to get the kids involved. One thing I find exciting is that rural history is still alive and it’s a living history. I want people to think about stuff now, for example photos are archival so we would like stuff from this summer or past summers,” said Hall.
She notes that the display is really a history of Alberta as the UFA has done all sorts of things for Alberta including at one time being the provincial government. The UFA premier brought the mineral rights to Albertans. They were big supporters of women getting the vote and female members of the UFA could vote in the organization in 1913. The UFA lobbied for women to get the vote provincially and federally, they thought it was really important for women to vote.
Hall thinks one of the highlights is the display on old oilcans. In the 1930s people started to use mechanization of farming and the farmers started to need more petroleum products. They were exclusive distributors of Maple Leaf Petroleum, which they sold in 1935.
“Farmers needed oil and that is the important point, people really enjoy those cans,” said Hall.
The museum will be at the County Fair starting on Aug. 8 from 5 to 9 p.m., Aug. 9 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Aug. 10 from 12 to 5 p.m.