Kalyna Country

Kalyna Country

The Kalyna Country ecomuseum is a heritage and eco-tourism district in East Central Alberta, Canada, named after the highbush cranberry plant, pronounced (Ka-liin-na) in the Ukrainian language.

Kalyna Country bills itself as the "World's Largest Ecomuseum" at 20,000 square kilometers, or more than three times the size of Prince Edward Island. Its boundaries stretch across a broad area of Alberta east and north of Edmonton, including nearly all the areas traditionally considered part of Canada's first Ukrainian Block Settlement, the Edna-Star colony. The area has been described as being to Ukrainian Canadians what Cajun Country is to that culture. At its peak, the area was the largest settlement of Ukrainians in the world outside of Eastern Europe.

Officially, Kalyna Country comprises Sturgeon, Thorhild, St. Paul, Vermillion River, Two Hills, Minburn, Beaver, Lamont, and Strathcona counties, and many of the neighbouring cities and Native Reserves and Metis Settlements.

Kalyna berries were a popular source of food amongst the early pioneers, fur traders and natives. Kalyna Country is a year round playground with culture as diverse as the landscape that offers it. Here the Aspen Parkland and the Boreal Forest converge, split by the scenic North Saskatchewan River Valley, all amidst thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land.

Throughout the region you will see natural rolling hills, abundant livestock and wildlife, beautiful crops and farmland, parks and wilderness areas, unique roadside attractions, scenic hilltop views, pioneer homesteads and picturesque valleys.

The main attractions include:
* Elk Island National Park famous for its work with Bison conservation.
* North America's Church Capital - Lamont County claims this title, with nearly 40 churches declared historic sites, despite the small and thinly spread population. Tours are available.
* Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village - a living history open-air museum showcasing East-Central Alberta's unique culture from 1892 - 1930.
* Vegreville Ukrainian Pysanka Festival - a huge Ukrainian cultural festival held every year in Vegreville, Alberta and named after that town's giant model of a Ukrainian easter egg or pysanka.
* Fort Victoria - a former fur-trading post, and missionary centre, home to the oldes building in Alberta.

The area is also famous for the "Giants of the Prairies", a series of roadside attractions (usually Ukrainian-themed).

* World's Largest Mushrooms, Vilna, Alberta
* World's Largest Perogy (Ukrainian dumpling), Glendon, Alberta
* World's Largest Kubasa (Ukrainian garlic sausage), Mundare, Alberta
* World's Largest Pysanka (Ukrainian easter egg), Vegreville, Alberta
* World's Largest UFO Landing Pad, St. Paul, Alberta
* World's Largest Duck, Andrew, Alberta

External links

* [http://www.kalynacountry.com/ Official website]

Kalyna country also includes Smoky Lake County (wwww.smokylakecounty.ab.ca). For those interested in visiting Vilna site, you may do so at www.historicvilna.com. For country life at best, go to www.waskatenau.ca


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Kalyna Roberge — Infobox Speed Skater name = Kalyna Roberge caption = country = CAN birth date = birth date and age|1986|10|1 birth place = Sainte Etienne de Lauzon, Quebec death date = death place = height = height|m=1.57 weight = convert|46|kg|lb… …   Wikipedia

  • Viburnum opulus — Plant with fruit Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked …   Wikipedia

  • Viburnum trilobum — Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Division …   Wikipedia

  • Elk Island National Park — Infobox protected area | name = Elk Island National Park iucn category = II caption = Elk Island National Park Location locator x = 65 locator y = 155 location = Alberta, Canada nearest city = Edmonton lat degrees = 53 lat minutes = 35 lat… …   Wikipedia

  • Block settlement — A block settlement is particular type of land distribution which allows settlers with the same ethnicity to form small colonies. They are the rural equivalent to urban ethnic neighbourhoods.This settlement type was used throughout western Canada… …   Wikipedia

  • Edna-Star colony — The Edna Star colony, in east central Alberta, Canada, is the largest and oldest of the Ukrainian Canadian block settlements.The colony was founded by a group of Ukrainian settlers led by Iwan Pylypow in 1892 (although he himself did not arrive… …   Wikipedia

  • Open-air museum — The Old Town an open air museum in the city of Aarhus, Denmark An open air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out of doors. The first open air museums were established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth… …   Wikipedia

  • Fort Victoria (Alberta) — Fort Victoria, near present day Smoky Lake, Alberta, Alberta, was established by the Hudson s Bay Company in 1864 as a trading post with the local Cree First Nations. Today, it is a historical museum.The oldest building in Alberta still on its… …   Wikipedia

  • Ecomuseum — Ecomuseums originated in France, the concept being developed by George Henri Rivière and Hugues de Varine, who coined the term ‘ecomusée’ in 1971 [Marie Odile de Bary, André Desvalles, Françoise Wasserman (editors), 1994, Vagues: une anthologie… …   Wikipedia

  • Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village — The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village ( uk. Село спадщини української культури, Selo spadshchyny ukrayins’koyi kul’tury ) is an open air museum that uses costumed historical interpreters to recreate pioneer settlements in east central Alberta,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”