The annual heritage weekend festivities took place at Buffalo Pound Lake over the long weekend.
Hundreds of visitors from all over Saskatchewan travelled to the provincial park to join in the weekend festivities.
Along the shores at the Elm View day use area, sun worshippers laid on the beach and grass soaking up the warm sun on Saturday.
"It's a beautiful day to be outside," said Colin Halvorsen, who was spending time with his family riding a jet ski on the lake.
The event started Friday night with a concert by country singer Brad Johner.
"We have had a great weekend and have lots of activities planned," said Raynell Lang, an interpreter at Buffalo Pound Provincial Park.
"This event is held so people can learn and know more about our heritage. It's a great way to attract day visitors and promote the park."
The Saturday morning festivities started with a pancake breakfast followed by face painting by Street Culture Kids and demonstrations by Kakwa, a MÉtis partnership specializing in museum quality Aboriginal artifact replicas covering pre-contact and fur trade eras.
Kakwa was founded by Kathleen and Jeffrey Coleclough in 1993 and is based in Riceton, Sask.
Kakwa in Plains Cree means porcupine, but in nature arts it stands for quality.
"We are here to demonstrate how Aboriginal people made tools and art work," said Kathleen.
Visitors to the park were invited to make cattail dolls, a traditional Ojibwa craft.
"Making the dolls was part of growing up for the children," said Kathleen. "It taught them the skills they would need later, especially when it came to building wigwams."
Kathleen said the technique used to fold and tie the dolls is similar to how the domed houses made by Aboriginal people were built, especially the roofs.
"The children were taught a practical skill while making a toy for themselves," said Kathleen.
Jeffrey held demonstrations on making tools from stones, such as arrowheads, knife blades and drill bits. He also showed how to scrape and tan a deer hide.
"It takes a lot of time and patience to make a knife blade," said Jeffrey. "No two are the same."
Using obsidian and chert stones, Jeffrey slowly craved out a blade.
"I use a rock or antler as my hammer to make these incredibly complex and fine tools," said Jeffrey. "These would be used to kill a giant bison or even a mammoth."
Using a bone from a moose ankle, Jeffrey demonstrated how Aboriginal people scraped the meat off hides and tanned them.
"We have a lot of people interested in our demonstrations," said Kathleen. "It's good to know people want to learn more about our heritage."
On Sunday Kakwa demonstrated the art of birch bark biting, which was used to decorate scrolls with art work. The demonstration has been refined to use pins instead of teeth as the bark is hard and can ruin teeth.
Colin Dewar can be reached at 691-1263.
For more, read Tuesday's Times-Herald.
