2002

marked the official opening of the Polish Kashub Heritage Park & Museum on June 30, 2002 [CLICK HERE for more information].

No one was happier than Martin Shulist to celebrate the official opening of the Park and Museum and he commented that he had been waiting for this for many years. He had also worked tirelessly towards the goal of commemorating the Polish Kashub culture in Canada and was instrumental in  getting the Ontario Heritage plaque for Canada's First Polish Settlement and in collecting a number of artifacts for a Museum. Later in the summer of 2002, the Wilno Heritage Society honoured another important leader in the revival of interest in cultural heritage - Rev. Al Rekowski, a native of Wilno, whose research and writing first connected Canada's Kashubs with their roots in the Kashubian part of Poland.

In 2002, the Wilno Heritage Park and Polish Kashub Heritage Museum project was greatly boosted by the receipt of a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. In August, 2002, Shirley Mask Connolly, Kashub historian, joined the Heritage Society as the first curator of the fledgling Museum.  Her first exhibit was dedicated to the Harvest theme and celebrated the farm families who worked so hard to develop this community.

2002 was a very exciting year for Polish Kashub heritage in Canada as the culture was recognized in the national publication: the Canadian Geographic magazine  which featured a two page spread entitled Kaszub Heartland.