Manitoba heritage organization preserves, and moves, a church (03/16/03)

Manitoba heritage organization preserves, and moves, a church

by Mary E. Pressey and Orest W. Pressey

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba - Rarely has a Ukrainian Canadian charitable organization captured as much local and national attention as has Portage la Prairie's Ukrainian Connection Inc.

Organized in November 1997 by a group of ardent supporters of heritage, its focus encompasses the preservation of the Ukrainian cultural and architectural history, the rich legacy of the Ukrainian prairie pioneers and particularly the desire to acquaint and share with the wider community the cultural heritage of Ukrainian Canadians, in the hope that such sharing will achieve a better understanding among all people of diverse ethnicity and in some measure to contribute to the Canadian mosaic.

Out of Portage la Prairie's population of some 14,000, less than 5 percent of the residents claim Ukrainian ancestry. The city is located about 60 miles west of Winnipeg, Manitoba's capital.

While the Ukrainian Connection members devoted much time and effort to the promotion of culture by exhibiting artworks (embroidery, ceramics, wood carving and pysanky), and staging performances of traditional folk dances, music and song by local and out-of-town groups, the members of Ukrainian Connection in 1999 decided to make a more tangible contribution to the community at large.

The group moved on its first major project which was to locate and move a church built by Ukrainian pioneers in a rural area to Portage's Fort la Reine Museum grounds. This task proved more difficult than the members of Ukrainian Connection anticipated. First, there was the matter of funds and second, parishioners of most of the Ukrainian churches dotting the prairie landscape were reluctant to part with their heritage treasure. But the task did not deter these stalwart members from attaining their goals.

For months on end the search for a church continued, as did fund-raising through cultural functions of song and dance and traditional dinners of pyrohy, holubtsi, kovbasa and poppyseed delicacies prepared solely by the members which drew people from far and near. In time, enough money was raised to embark seriously on the project.

In the early summer of 2001 the search for a church came to an end when the congregation of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Arbakka, a community near Vita, Manitoba, donated its small, deeply cherished church built in 1939 to Ukrainian Connection. The work to relocate the church began in earnest.

A building mover was hired, and he commenced the work by removing the three domes and setting them on a trailer. He then lifted the base of the building with air bags and secured it to beams affixed to another trailer. A large truck was hitched to each trailer to form an impressive convoy.

At this point the president of Ukrainian Connection was interviewed by an enthusiastic Susan Magas of CBC Radio in Winnipeg. The uniqueness and magnitude of this undertaking captured the attention of local and national newscasters from A Channel, Global Network and CTV. The physical moving of the church was televised across Canada and was highlighted in CBC's premiere newscast, "The National."

Canadian Press picked up the story and member-newspapers from Edmonton to Toronto and points in between reported exclusively on the adventure of moving a church building along a circuitous 200-mile route. The daily reporting on terrorism, war and general malaise was momentarily displaced by a happy human interest story that gave listeners and readers an uplifting feeling.

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