PASS LAKE — Betty Ann Price's life in Pass Lake is pretty cozy — at least by the standards of her Danish ancestors.
Price's great grandparents were among the first hardy souls who emigrated from Denmark to Canada in the 1920s, taking the chance on a new life on a Canadian homestead just east of Thunder Bay.
As Price and other Pass Lake residents prepare to mark the 100th anniversary of the Danish settlement next weekend, they marvel at how much has progressed since the time of the first homesteaders who toiled in rugged wilderness.
"There is a bit of a 'wow' factor," Price, who is president of Pass Lake's historical society, said on Friday. "It is interesting to see that we made it to 100, and how the technology has changed."
Most Pass Lake homesteads were patented from 1935 to 1950, starting at 50 cents per acre. Though the area was bustling with logging activity, electricity didn't arrive until the late 1950s.
Price's great grandparents, August and Laura Andersen, lived out of a log cabin. They ran a sawmill, as well as the community's first post office.
On Aug. 24, the 100th anniversary is to be celebrated at Pass Lake's annual country fair. The festivities are to be followed by a dance featuring Thunder Bay's Back Forty country band.
About 1,000 people attended the fair last summer.
"I'm really passionate about it," said Becky Kapush, spokeswoman for the Pass Lake Sports and Rec Association. "I'm so glad we were able to bring (the fair) back after 2019 (following the COVID-19 pandemic)."
Though a traditional Sunday church service is to take place on Aug. 25, that event won't be held in the community's re-built church building as hoped; construction is nearly complete, but not quite, Harris said.
The previous church on Highway 587 burned down four years ago. It was constructed in 1932 after a congregation called the Salem Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was established in Pass Lake.
The new 1,500-square-foot building, which has been erected just behind the site of the one that burnt, appears almost exactly the same as the original, although it's about three metres wider.
Events on Aug. 25 are to include a lunch with Danish fare, including traditional desserts like strudel and kransekage cake.
Sunday lunch tickets can be booked by email at passlakehistoricalsociety@gmail.com.
The Chronicle-Journal/Local Journalism Initiative
