Today is the last day of June and we had our June train station meeting last week. Everyone is gearing up for the huge celebration that is coming. Every year our committee pays for and plants flowers at the Rivers Stationette to greet the travelers coming to take an adventure or return from one. We all take turns during the summer for a week at a time to water them and make them look their best. This years must be especially well looked after as we want to look beautiful for the over 1000 people coming back to the community. The retired Rivers Masonic Lodge members donated money to our committee and this month, beautiful charcoal colored brick  flower gardens adorn either side of the train rail arbour in the Millennium Park. We will post photos of this once the flowers are in full bloom.  A granite plaque is being produced to honor this donation, as many of the members of the Rivers Lodge were railroaders.
Members of our committee are working on a float for the huge parade on July 6th and then of course we have some fundraising events to promote. A local artist by the name of Ina Hyndman has donated a beautiful watercolor, of a passenger train travelling across the trestle. As well we have made an agreement with Manitoba's famous Morden Chocolates of Winnipeg to produce solid milk chocolate steam engines for sale during this special year. After our committee tasted one, it was a hit and a great choice to fundraise and do something else that is unique. So we will be at the Rivers fair on July 3rd with these delights and from there at our new community complex on sale for everyone that has a sweet tooth!
Around the middle of June we had Canadian Poet and writer, Tim Bowling visit with us as he is working on a project to celebrate the life of Buster Keaton, the silent film star. Buster was in a National Film Board production called The RailRodder and spent time in Rivers during its' filming. It is another amazing story for another time.
This week promises to be a week of new beginnings for us, as we have an architectural firm coming from Winnipeg to see if we can work together and get started on the renovation of the station. We are very excited about this and look forward to seeing the station come to life. For now we will be happy to enjoy the festivities and friendships of the 100th anniversary this week. Happy Birthday to Canada on Canada Day and Happy 100th Birthday to Rivers. All aboard for the fun!

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