Cabrea the Dunrea mascot turns to the south
Fall means different things to everyone, and can include pumpkin spiced lattes, pies, Fall Suppers and the turning of Cabrea.
Early on Saturday morning of this past weekend, after meeting for coffee at the Prairie Lakes Rec Complex, four strapping members of the community gathered around Cabrea, the Dunrea, Manitoba town mascot, to complete the fall ritual of turning Cabrea to face South signalling the end of summer and the departure of our feathered summer visitors to southern regions to winter in warmer areas.
Who is Cabrea?
Cabrea, a 1,250 pound (567 kgs) snow goose, is the town mascot of Dunrea, Manitoba.
But there is much more to this story which started many years ago.
A true gentleman, Dollard Mailhot and his family had just moved to Dunrea, becoming the new owner/operators of the Dunrea Hotel. The entire family loved their new home and enjoyed exploring and learning about the area. Dollard was impressed with the huge number of snow geese that flew over the town in the spring as they travelled to their nesting grounds, and again in the fall as they travelled back to their winter homes. These geese were a sight that he wasn’t used to seeing.
Dollard also had a love of antiques, (and yes that plays into the story).
It was Dollard’s love of antiques that sparked the Dunrea Antiques and Collectables Flea Market Committee, and it was this committee that organized the long running Annual Dunrea Flea Market.
During the late 1990’s, many areas were planning something special for Y2K and Dollard came up with the idea of a town mascot for Dunrea.
Being directly in line with the snow goose migration path, it only made sense to have Dunrea’s mascot be a snow goose.
Everyone loved the idea, and backed the project which, with approval, was funded completely by the income from the Annual Dunrea Flea Markets.
Dollard was always thinking about how to make things better.
Having a new snow goose mascot was amazing, but Dollard realized you couldn’t just plunk the town’s new mascot down facing one way year round, that just seemed wrong.
Very much an innovator, Dollard designed and built a stand for Cabrea that allowed the mascot to be turned from facing north in the spring to facing south in the fall.
It was an ingenious idea that even the Cabrea still seems to enjoy!
You may be wondering how the Dunrea mascot was given the name Cabrea.
Well, it is actually a melding of two names; Cab came from Cabria where the mascot was created, and Rea, the last three letters from Dunrea.
Many towns have mascots, but Dunrea has the only snow goose that marks the changing of the seasons.
PHOTO CAPTION: On Saturday, October 19th, “Cabrea”, Dunrea’s famous goose made its annual turn to face the south to mimic the pattern of the migrating geese. Next spring it will turn back to the north in time to welcome the geese back from their winter holiday. PHOTO BY SUZANNE PADDOCK
