Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/201540
by the way Winter Sleep story and photo by Johnnie Bachusky On those winter mornings when hoarfrost transforms the ghost town of Robinhood, Saskatchewan, into a crystallized magical world of ice, the hamlet's long decline into oblivion seems to pause in time. Along a forgotten avenue, an abandoned Lutheran Church sits noble and proud, guarded by a stretch of trees that stand like loyal sentinels in honour of glory days past. Its steepled, rustic beauty amid the colourless world of ice offers a snapshot back to a time of hope and promise. The first service for this once-vibrant prairie community of 60 souls was held on Easter Sunday, 1941, and the congregation that day surely extended its prayers to those fighting in Europe. In the ensuing decade, the hamlet (so named because Canada Post rejected an initial 50 W e s t w o r l d p50-51_ByTheWay.indd 50 >> filing of Robin, Saskatchewan, on the grounds that it was too similar to Roblin, Manitoba) began losing inhabitants following the closure of its grain elevators. Regular church services were suspended in 1956, though the church and community came alive once more on July 27, 1991, for the marriage of Murray Allen and Carol Lee, an impromptu happy day organized and staged within eight hours. Since then the old church has been left alone to fend off the rigours of time and the elements. While there are more than 250 other churches across the province protected with a designation under the Heritage Property Act, the commemoration of the Robinhood Lutheran Church comes only with winter, ice and a lively imagination. winter 2013 13-10-18 10:24 AM