Two of my favourites: vintage cars and chokecherries – 62 photos

Lancer, SK – Oct 12, 2024

I’m enjoying chokecherry jam on my toast this morning after attending the Chokecherry Festival where they also had a classic car show with amazing vehicles. I’m stocked up with 10 jars of jam and syrup which might last me ’til Christmas. Lancer is just across the border and I had a pleasant back-roads drive getting there. 

My roots are in small town Saskatchewan and I enjoy spending a day without fighting traffic and listening to sirens. Lancer’s population is 58 but the place was packed to the rafters and I would estimate at least one thousand people were in town for the day. 

Denise Bradford supplied these impressive numbers:

• Chokecherry jam and syrup: 57 dozen x 250ml jars total, we made syrup also for the breakfast in 500ml jars . We made all of this over two day with five people working each day. 
• The breakfast had 414 people attended
• The mudbog had 830 adults go through the gate, not including kids 12 and under. 
• We had 38 drivers in the bog.
• 28 vehicles for the show and shine 
• And finally 124 people attended the dance at the hall Saturday night. 
• So a super big weekend for our little tiny town.

There were numerous activities throughout the day but my main interest was the parade and car show. I made a brief appearance at the mud bog just to see the size of the crowd which was huge. The three trucks I observed all got stuck before reaching the dry ground. A Jeep almost made it.  

Some outstanding classic cars and trucks showed up from the immediate area. Wendy Hale brought four vehicles including the infamous and rarely-seen Ford Pinto. Garry Wagner came with his 49 Chev long-box which was purchased brand new by his father. Our grain truck on the farm was a 49 Ford on which I learned the double-clutching manouvre. 

October weather can be sketchy but it was a beautiful autumn day with sunshine and a gentle breeze. 

I was too late for the pancake breakfast but I devoured hearty homemade soup for lunch at the community hall. For dessert, there were many kinds of homemade pie to choose from and the one I had, I believe they called it berry crumble, was delicious. 

As a kid growing up I picked chokecherries on the farm and developed a taste for mom’s delicious homemade chokecherry preserves from a very young age. It was wonderful to indulge in both the food and the memories once again.