December 15, 2011 - By Marc Zienkiewicz; Lac du Bonnet Leader
For Grant and Derek Erickson of Lac du Bonnet, history runs in the family.
The two brothers took some time out of their evening December 9, 2011 to stop in at the Lac du Bonnet and District Historical Society's annual wine and cheese fundraising evening, which celebrates and raises cash for the society's historical museum in Halliday Park.
The museum building is a restored version of the Hans Erickson Log Cabin, formerly located in Old Pinawa.
It was built by Grant and Derek's great-grandfather in 1935.
"He built it for his daughter, Linnea," said Grant. "You don't see many of these old homesteads being preserved. Nowadays people buy land and they tear it down and build a new house."
And while the brothers don't have any memories of their great-grandfather, thinking of the cabin brought back memories of their grandfather Axel (Hans' son), who worked for Manitoba Hydro for years.
The evening was a huge success once again, said historical society president Kathy Willis, with at least 200 people showing up.
The museum will officially open in the spring, and the historical society is already trying to arrange to hire a student to staff it.
The historical society celebrated the opening of the museum earlier this year with a free pork roast, open to everyone in the community. A cake decorated with spruce trees and a log cabin was donated by Waterview Bakery for the occasion.
"We were overwhelmed! Certainly the (hot weather) had something to do with it but our purpose was to thank our volunteers and most of all to let the people of Lac du Bonnet know that they now have a museum to be proud of," Willis said.