The Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan will ring with the sound of hammers hitting anvils during its eighth-annual Smith-In Blacksmith Festival on Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16 from 10am to 4pm.

More than 18 blacksmiths from across Ontario, Quebec, and the USA will come together to share their skills and products with patrons of the museum and fellow smiths. In the timber-framed Williams Pavilion, blacksmiths will be demonstrating using a variety of portable forges. In the blacksmith shop, visiting smiths will be demonstrating historical blacksmithing. In the past, they have forged reproduction gun barrels modelled closely on a musket discovered in nearby Apple Hill as well as a reproduction of a ship’s anchor. The one-room schoolhouse will feature presentations on the history of blacksmithing and on basic blacksmithing techniques. There will even be a children’s section for kids to bang away on safer materials or try out a scavenger hunt for chances to win a prize.

This event will also see the Museum’s reproduction forge and tools put to use. The bellows-blown portable forge is modelled on forges from the American Revolutionary War and features leather bellows and wooden carriage wheels. The Museum’s Oliver Hamelin blacksmith shop, originally from Apple Hill will be alive with the sounds of the forge and anvil.

The blacksmith and his shop were at the centre of village life in the 19th Century. The blacksmith shoed horses and repaired all the tools needed for agriculture, transportation, forestry, and other industries, and also fashioned decorative objects. The blacksmith shop, or “smithy,” was a key social hub, and smiths often performed important ceremonial roles in their communities. This year, you will be able to see the museum’s smithy come to life.

Many of the smiths will have items on display and for sale. On Saturday, June 15 there will be a variety of local craftspeople, artisans, and vendors to complement the visiting smiths. Food and refreshments will be available for sale in the museum’s new canteen.

Come smell the coal smoke and see the sparks fly when hammers meet hot steel! What better event could there be to attend on the Father’s Day weekend?

For more information, call 613-527-5230; email [email protected], or consult our www.glengarrypioneermuseum.ca.