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Big Success for the Slovak Wedding Show
The Slovak Wedding play “Svadba Pod Tatrami” was this plays third sold out show. The afternoon of Sunday, April 8, the Slovak Ambassador Andrej Droba and his bride of eight years joined the almost 250 guests who were on the edge of their seats as they sang and some danced along with the show.
It was the Club of Martina Rázusa and M.R. Štefánika Association together with the Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum who had put all their various talents to work to produce this beautiful event. Rev. L. Kozák pastor of St. Paul’s Slovak Lutheran 
church contributed with two Fujara songs and an accordion solo was played by Dušan Drobný. Dancers from the Východna Slovak Dancers, Monika Slovak and Filip Karandyšovský made the wedding lively and festive. As Rev. G. Nowicki, pastor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius church, so surprisingly said of some of his parishioners, that he never knew they had such wonderful talent. We would like to acknowledge and thank the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish for their support and the church ladies that looked after the lunch and refreshments.
To complement the wedding occasion, a wedding themed painting by Marta Brestovansky of “Fiddler on the Roof” was raffled off by the Slovak Museum. The lucky winner was Mrs. Elizabet Drahorat who came with friends from Kitchener for the show. She was so pleased as she said she never wins anything and pondered her winning ticked for a while, triple checking her winning numbers.
In her closing remarks, Mrs. Olga Turoková the director of the production invited the audience to the next play that she and Mrs. Katarína Kozáková the initiator of the play are already working on. With so many beautiful costumes there is 
also talk of a possible Slovak Costume Fashion Show next spring. As you see, one good idea can lead to so many new possibilities. So be sure to get your tickets early next time before they sell out. See you soon!
Photo credit: Alena Melas
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It was the people that made the Slovak Museum’s opening “Grand”
The visitors began coming up the red carpet about 12:30. By 1:30 pm the Canadian Slovak League’s Hall was full to standing room only with over 120 guests. The Opening Welcome by the Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum’s president Alena Melas started on time, at 2 pm and special guests were introduced. Mississauga’s Mayor, Madame Bonnie Crombie and Councillors Ron Starr and Christine Fonseca complemented the work of the volunteers and presented the museum with two certificates of recognition. The museum presented Madam Mayor with a Modra ceramic Easter basket with a very special Easter egg. The greetings were followed by a beautiful song on the Fujara played by Rev. Ladislav Kozak from St. Paul’s Slovak Lutheran Church.
Nov.1, 2017 was the first official day of the SCHM’s move to the CSL’s hall. We believe this cohabitation arrangement will be very good for both organizations. The CSL was looking for more activity in their hall and the museum was looking for a place to hold their workshops and other museum events. Each organization has some private space but the hall and library area are shared. For the opening, the upstairs library displays were digitized and showed on
a monitor in the hall so that all guests could view the 
upstairs exhibits. 
Today, Sunday March 25, 2018 over 120 visitors came to admire the creative displays and priceless artifacts
that the museum volunteers prepared. With the age range from 3 months to 93 years, good music and tasty refreshments, everyone enjoyed the comeradery and the very special music of the ‘Fujara’. Guests came all the way from Oshawa in the east to St. Catharines in the west. Many visitors also used this opportunity to bring Slovak artifacts for the museum. The SCHM is very appreciative for these contributions and would like to thank everyone for their support. This milestone event is very important for the museum and we hope that it will be remembered by many. Our special thanks go out to Katka Homolova who did a wonderful job of interviewing people and her camera man captured the event which will be presented on the Slovak television program Slovensky Svet.
For the future, it was Margaret’s hope to capture the history of the Slovaks in Canada. Those that have immigrated to Canada can leave a legacy so that their children and grandchildren will know where their parents, grandparents and great grandparents came from. Coming to a new country is not easy for anyone. Some struggles may be similar but every ones’ story is unique. The SCHM’s genealogy committee had prepared a questionnaire to help people write their family history. It is a two part document. The first is the facts, the names, dates and places. The second is for the personal stories of joys, sorrows, struggles and accomplishments. It is these stories that define us as Slovak people in a Multicultural society and our stories need to be heard. If you would like help from the SCHM to guide you in writing your family history you may get this questionnaire by contacting a member of the museum’s board of Directors: Luba Henderson, Helen Bucic, Joe Radvansky, Mary
Sirotnik, Anne Smith, Anne Mitro, Rev. Marek Novicky, Alena Melas or download it from this web-site.
The Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum’s opening was a big success because people with good hearts came to celebrate this occasion. It is a museum for all Slovaks. We hope to continue for many years to share and showcase the contributions that Slovaks have made to Canada our new homeland.
It is time to go collect the flags, take down the tent and roll up the red carpet! The Opening Celebration today is complete and was a big success. The visitors were happy, the comments were all positive and we hope to see you all again at the next SCHM event
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SCHM founder passed away
The board members and volunteers of the Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum had very sad hearts upon the passing away of the museum’s founder Mrs. Margret A. Dvorsky on March 19, 2018. She was interned alongside her husband at the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Thornhill, Ontario. Family and friends gathered for a wake at the museum after the funeral. Mrs. Dvorsky was a strong lady with many wonderful dreams, one of which was the creation of a museum for the Slovak community. She will be greatly missed by all!
The president of the museum Alena Melas announced that a memorial fund has been suggested to help support the Slovak Museum. Anyone wishing to donate to the SCHM can do so in Margaret Dvorsky’s memory.
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Spring bake sale Sunday, March 18, 2018
The Sts. Cyril and Methodius annual spring bake sale was very well attended. Parishioners love to get the 
home made sausages, knedle, cabbage rolls, noodles and pastries. The church ladies group had lovely, previously loved gift items for sale. The Slovak Museum once again had a table display and Alena Melas did a demonstration on a very popular style of Slovak egg decorating. It is always a very popular attraction for both adults and children to learn about the Slovak Easter traditions.
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A visit from Mr. John von Kauffmann, Charge d’Affaires
The Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum and the Canadian Slovak League were honoured to host a lunch time
meeting Thursday, March 15th with the Canadian Chargé d’Affaires at the Office of the Embassy of Canada in Bratislava, Slovakia on his visit to Toronto. Mr. John von Kaufmann met with leaders and members of Toronto’s Slovak community to get informed about their organizations and activities. Mr. von Kauffmann has many degrees and has studied law at the Universities of Geneva and Toronto.
Among many positions he has served as a Human Rights Counsel and was stationed in UAE as a Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. von Kauffman took time to view the museum and was pleased with the warm reception. We wish him well!
In the photo L to R: Maruska and Daniel Sulan, Honorary Consul Michael Martincek, Marika Behul, Milos Mitro, Julius Behul, Charge d’Affaire John von Kaufmann, Luba Henderson, Alena Melas, Joe Radvansky and Rudy Bies. Photos by Ondro Mihal
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Richmond Hill Central Library Slovak Easter Display
The Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum has been creating imaginative Easter Exhibits at the Richmond Hill Central Library, at 1 Atkinson St., for over a decade. The display is always a little different with focus on different items. One year we featured 100 Easter eggs, another 100 heritage dolls, and this year it was a spring time shower of colorful Easter eggs. From March 1 to April 3rd. the display was viewed by hundreds of visitors to the library as they walked in and they often stopped to have a closer look at the many items behind the glass wall.
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Pillows, spindles and spinning wheel!
The Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum welcomed the Slovak Canadian Women’s Association for their annual social gathering at the CSL/SCHM hall on Traders Blvd. in Mississauga on Sunday, September 9, 2018. The museum volunteers prepared a one-of-a-kind exhibit just for the ladies. On display all around the room were 20 pillows with crochet, handwoven or embroidered slipcovers in various techniques. On a large display panel was a collection of kitchen wall embroideries and some very beautiful aprons.
The SCWA president Helen Bucic welcomed the ladies for coming and introduced the SCHM president Alena Melas who presented a short history of the museum, she spoke about the museum’s present projects and future events. The ladies were then treated to a demonstration of spinning on a spindle and a spinning wheel
with lots of interesting fiber and textile information.
For many of the ladies this was their first time at the museum location and they were impressed by the many artifacts displayed in the showcases. A recent donation was made by Mrs. Debbie Fantin of Halifax, Nova Scotia who sent a package to the museum with her father’s small wooden accordion and his gold pocket watch which he brought with him when he came to Canada in 1926. The Museum would also like to thank Mrs. Mary Polack who donated two pictures and Ms. Julianna Potocny for her donation of pictures, embroidery, and memorabilia.
The afternoon continued with Slovak music, wine, cheese and the most amazing desert table. The heartfelt compliments were very appreciated by the museum’s volunteers and future visits from the ladies were promised. The museum would like to thank the Slovak Canadian Women’s Association for choosing to hold their function at the Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum and Canadian Slovak League’s hall in Mississauga.
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anniversary of the arrival of many to Canada. Hundreds of Slovaks immigrated to Canada after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by thousands of Russian troops. A special mass was dedicated for this anniversary and a festive lunch followed. Mrs. Anne Mitro had organized a very unique program that started with a recording obtained from CBC radio of their broadcasts of the event fifty years ago. It was quit dramatic. Then some of the people who experienced this personally spoke about their individual situations. Katka Gulej, Dagmar Prugler, Rastislav Orel, Julia Gulej, Katka Orel Alena Melas and Dakna Gulej are past students from the Slovak school that have been friends for fifty years had reunited for a memorable photo with their teacher Mrs. Marika Olah. This was a very special occasion for many that day.
The Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum prepared a special display of five showcases with newspapers with stories and pictures from 1968. The pictures were from the collection of Mr. Joe Radvansky who arranged the events chronologically of the Russian tanks and soldiers hurling into the country. The demonstrations by the people showed their horrified faces as they feared that another war might be coming. This fear is what made many people decide very quickly to run to neighbouring countries or to US and Canada. The museum would like to thank the people who shared their stories as it was not easy for many to recall these horrible times. The collection of these stories will be ongoing by the museum. There is still time if you would like to submit your account of your experience please contact the museum and we will be happy to assist you.
Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax. Mr. Jan Raska will be coming to Toronto to speak at the University of Toronto and then will come and present that lecture to us at the SCHM on Saturday, November 10 at 10:30 am at the CSL/SCHM hall at 259 Traders Blvd. E. #6 in Mississauga. Mr. Raska is a former student of Professor Mark Stolarik in Ottawa. We are very fortunate to have been able to arrange for Mr. Raska to come and spend some time with us at the museum. He will take these stories back to the Pier 21 Museum where they will be entered as accounts of that historic event. So the more stories we collect the stronger our Slovak voice will be in history archives. We once again invite you all to come and support this museum event. We also invite you to bring any photos, artifacts, documents, currency, stamps, pins, buttons, ribbons, super 8 films or slides that you may have to show or to donate. Please help us by contacting us and telling us your story. This is your chance to be a part of something important for our common Slovak Canadian Heritage