Grand Beach Dance Pavillion

Located along the La Vérendrye Trail (PTH 12), Grand Beach ranks third among the top 10 North American beaches.  The seventeenth century French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de la Vérendrye referred to the area as Grand Marais, meaning “Big Marsh.” Grand Beach achieved worldwide fame in the twentieth century thanks to the Canadian National…

Local Musicians and Bands

One of the earlier Bandmasters of any repute, was Claude R. Macfie who lived on the east side of the Red River. He started forming his Band in the late 1870’s and early 1880’s and by 1883 was playing to large crowds on both sides of the Red River. His group was basically a Brass…

Manitoba Highland Gathering

In the summer of 1967, an annual celebration began in Selkirk, Manitoba. The Highland Gathering began in Manitoba in part because many people had emigrated from Scotland and the British Isles in the 1960s. These new arrivals were recruited to work at the Selkirk Hospital for Mental Diseases as psychiatric nurses. There were pipe bands…