Canadian Slovenian Historical Society at the Slovenski Dan Celebrations Slovenian Farm, 
Bolton ON. July 4, 2004

Anne Urbancic

As the summer gears up, most people gear down, looking forward to long lazy summer days, to a well deserved vacation, or to catching up with all the household projects that there just wasn’t enough time to complete over the year. For many Canadian Slovenians, the summer starts with the annual Slovenski
Dan celebrations at the Slovenian Farm in Bolton, Ont. This is a chance to meet, greet and eat. (Perhaps in a future column I’ll write about one of the community’s better potica makers: a Canadian Slovenian gentleman born in Toronto!!) This is also a chance for the community to proudly showcase its Slovenian heritage.

From left: Dorothy Lenarcic, Stane Kranjc and Anne Urbancic

This year the Slovenian Canadian Historical Society (CSHS) was pleased to be part of the festivities. We were offered a space in the hall to present ourselves and to let the community know more about the society and its work. Ms. Dorothy Lenarcic, an enthusiastic member of our Board, and I were able to meet or become reacquainted with so many members of our community who were drawn to the table by our display and who left with one of our brochures and hopefully with the idea of either participating in the Society or donating original or copies of documents, photos, diaries, letters and artifacts to the archives, securely housed in Dom Lipa.

Dorothy and I are particularly excited about this archiving project. We have just recently returned from Slovenia where we completed a course in Ljubljana for archivists abroad offered by the Slovenian government. The course was an incredible experience, and we learned that our archiving project can certainly become a reality similar to the amazing model of the Australian Slovenians in Sydney. All the archivists, historians, academics, and government representatives we met and worked with in Slovenia, in Trieste, and in the Val di Resia in Italy, urged us on and encouraged us to keep going out to the Canadian Slovenian community so that our Archives will be as successful as those in Australia.

From left: (shading their eyes) Anne Urbancic and Dorothy Lenarcic

As a result of the encouragement, we were pleased to be part of the Slovenski Dan display. Did you find yourself or your parents in the group of Slovenian school pupils photographed in 1960 in front of Marija Pomagaj? Did you or your relatives arrive in Canada on the ship in the photograph, with documentation
similar to that on display? Did you receive a free gift of candy in the tin box with the picture of the Queen Mary on it, when your ship docked at Pier 21? (Another example of that box is on display at Pier 21 in Halifax). Many of you stopped to admire the exquisite lace and crochet work on display, hoping that
it was for sale.

Sincere thanks to the CSHS president, Mr. Stane Kranjc, and treasurer, Mr. Frank Brence, for lending the photos, and for generously donating the display stands and picture frames. Heartfelt thanks also to my parents, Franc and Marija Urbancic for lending documents and candy box, to the Jamnik family for the issues of Canadian Slovenian newspapers, to Mrs. Francka Lenarcic for the copy of one of the first Slovenian Farm permits issued,  and to Mrs. Dora Kavcic and Mrs. Pregel for kindly allowing us to show their lace and crochet work, some of which will remain in acid free storage in the Archives in order to preserve it.

Thank you to all of you who stopped by to ask questions, pick up a brochure, or share your wonderful stories about your first years in Canada. We need your participation so that our Slovenian heritage will not be forgotten in Canada. Consider donating materials to the CSHS archives. These will be carefully preserved in archival boxes with your name or the name of your group or family.
 
Remember, you do not have to be famous to be important to us.