A monument at Camp Wannakumbac, in the Municipality of Harrison Park on the west shore of Clear Lake adjacent to Riding Mountain National Park, was unveiled on 3 July 1988 to mark the location of a dining hall used by the Manitoba Federation of Agriculture and Co-operation (MFAC) from 1948 to 1965. The building had been constructed in 1933, at a site about 100 metres to the west, and used as a store and post office for the community of Crawford Park. It closed in 1947. The MFAC camp site was renamed the Riding Mountain Conference Centre and its camping program was named Camp Wannakumbac in 1965.
A plaque on the back of the monument was added in 1998 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Camp Wannakumbac. It identifies the members of the MFAC’s first camp committee: Percy Edward Burnell (1909-1975) of Strathclair, Florence Evelyn Harkness (1897-1983) of Grandview, and Walter Fillmore Durston (1913-1994) of Dauphin, and the first camp director, Helen Matheson Sisson (1915-2013).
Camp Wannakumbac monument (August 2015)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Location (lat/long): N50.68322, W100.05578
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Organization: Manitoba Federation of Agriculture and Co-operation
Birth registration [Percy Edward Burnell], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“A new adventure in Manitoba camping,” Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times, 13 February 1946, page 4.
Obituary [Percy Edward Burnell], Winnipeg Free Press, 9 August 1975, page 47.
“50th anniversary of Camp Wannakumbac,” Grandview Exponent, 23 September 1998, page 27.
Obituary [Helen Mary Sisson], Winnipeg Free Press, 19 October 2013.
Florence Evelyn Topham Harkness, FindAGrave.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 April 2024
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