Discover Curve Lake: Culture and Crafts
Accommodation in Curve Lake
Curve Lake puts culture, crafts and living traditions at the forefront. When choosing when to travel, it is worth considering whether you want to plan around the annual Curve Lake Pow Wow or are mainly interested in exhibitions and workshops at the local centres. If you are looking for hotels in Curve Lake, these highlights can help guide your travel planning.
Culture, Crafts and Events
The Curve Lake Pow Wow takes place annually and draws visitors from across North America. Its dates may change, so if you want to plan your trip around the event, check the current dates before booking. This makes the Pow Wow a specific point of reference for your travel plans, while the centres in Curve Lake offer other cultural highlights.
The Whetung Ojibwa Centre offers crafts, fine art, jewellery, moccasins, leatherwork and sculptures from Curve Lake First Nation and across Canada. The range of items on offer includes everything from jewellery and moccasins to leatherwork and sculptures. This gives you the opportunity to explore different forms of crafts and fine art rather than focusing on a single category. The selection changes over time. The original location of the Whetung Ojibwa Centre is in Curve Lake First Nation.
The Curve Lake Cultural Centre presents artefacts and unique exhibitions on storytelling, art, history and ceremony. Workshops complement the exhibitions with insights into making Ojibwa crafts and traditional cultural practices. This offers two distinct areas of interest: viewing artefacts and exhibitions on the one hand, and learning about craft-making and cultural practices in a workshop on the other. Check the events calendar for current workshop dates.
More to Explore in Peterborough County
The wider destination of Peterborough County has more places and themes to explore. Hope Mill is open every Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., from mid-April to the end of October. Since seasonal opening hours can change, it is a good idea to check before visiting. Free tours and sawing demonstrations are available on published opening days. Since 2006, volunteers with Hope Mill Restoration Volunteers have used the original water-powered turbines to saw wood. Tours, demonstrations and the mill's operations bring together its history and technology.
The Lang Pioneer Village Museum in Peterborough County also focuses on historic buildings and crafts. The living-history museum includes more than 30 restored and reconstructed buildings. Costumed interpreters demonstrate the lives and crafts of 19th-century settlers, and there is also a fully operational grist mill. Together, the buildings, demonstrations and mill offer insights into different aspects of daily life at the time.
The regional perspective also extends from prehistoric rock art to outdoor activities. Petroglyphs Provincial Park contains one of the largest single concentrations of prehistoric rock art in Canada. Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park is open year-round for backcountry adventures; availability may vary depending on the area and conditions. Activities range from canoeing and backcountry camping to short hikes. These themes offer a different focus from the cultural centres and historic mills, complementing the wider picture of Peterborough County.
Explore more destinations: Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield, Ennismore, Woodview, Keene, Bailieboro, Peterborough, Norwood, Havelock
View the full travel guide: Peterborough County.
