City of Abbotsford 2025 Artist in Residence: Call for Artists
Applications are now open for the City of Abbotsford’s 2025 Artist in Residence: Sharing the Stories of Abbotsford. Heritage Abbotsford is partnering with the City of Abbotsford to collaborate with a local artist through a self-directed residency aimed at strengthening community appreciation of local heritage through art.
2024 Call for Directors
You probably know by now that we at the Heritage Abbotsford Society collect, record, preserve, and share the stories of Abbotsford. Amongst other things, we work extensively with local built heritage (yes, that’s fancy speak for “old budlings and sites”), research local historic topics, and exhibit artifacts from our collections and archives on and off Trethewey House Heritage Site.
A Brief Overview of the Dairy Industry in Abbotsford
In 2023, we received a donation of photographs by a generous donor. In mid-August, we were finally able to ask a couple of our beloved volunteers for help identifying the locations in many of the photographs.
Planned Giving
Ensure your legacy by preserving the past. Remembering Heritage Abbotsford in your estate planning will help us steward our community’s heritage for future generations. Your gift will help maintain our heritage buildings and historical collections, while enabling us to provide public programming to share our local stories.
South Poplar Schoolhouse Team nets Conservation Award
Every year Heritage BC receives nominations of projects and people across the province who have made an impact on heritage stewardship and conservation. This year, 22 recipients were recognized in five categories. Among the recipients of this year’s award were Travis Thuro and Ian Froese of Thuro Construction & Design, who worked with staff from Heritage Abbotsford Society to restore Abbotsford’s historic South Poplar schoolhouse.
Crossroads Exhibit Catalogue
The Crossroads Exhibit is a partnership between the Fraser Valley Water Media Society (FVWS) and Heritage Abbotsford Society. In this catalogue, you will find renderings of the artists’ paintings, along with photographs and historical information.
Sponsorship Opportunities
As a non-profit society, Heritage Abbotsford relies on the support of our community to continue our important work of preserving our local history and cultural heritage. Through our exclusive sponsorship opportunities, we invite you to join us in creating meaningful educational experiences that foster an inclusive sense of community.
Sumas Lake: A Quick Look at a Long History
Sumas Lake was and is very important to the Stó:lō peoples, especially the Semá:th. For them, the lake was a source of food, a place to live, a watery highway, and a place which featured in oral histories. Fish and waterfowl were abundant and provided an easy and varied source of food. The lake was large, approximately 10,000 acres, but during the spring freshet (May to July), it often expanded to three times that size.
Stories to Spaces: Land Back – What Does It Really Mean?
The Land Back movement is not about kicking every non-Indigenous person out of Canada and returning to some utopian way of living. So, if the Land Back movement doesn’t mean literally giving your land to the Indigenous people, then what DOES it mean?
The Abbotsford Stories Project Press Release
Abbotsford seniors with an interest in local history are invited to participate in a community-wide storytelling project celebrating the City’s heritage.