Vintage cars and chokecherries at the Lancer Chokecherry Festival

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.

Garry Wagner with his 49 Chev. Purchased new by his dad.

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.