Pass the Pyrahi: Taghum Hall celebrates its Doukhobor roots

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About

Join us at Taghum Hall just west of Nelson for displays, demonstrations, multi-media presentations and music—all free! Enjoy a lunch of traditional Doukhobor foods at a nominal cost. Featuring a special reading by author Vera Maloff (pictured here) from her 2021 memoir Our Backs Warmed by the Sun, with thanks to the Canada Council of the Arts and the Writers union of Canada for their support. This family-friendly event takes place both outside and inside the Hall.

Links

• Taghum Hall taghumhall.ca

Organizer

Taghum Community Society

The bright & beautiful, newly-renovated Taghum Hall, located along the shores of the Kootenay River, 10 kilometres west of Nelson, is the cultural cornerstone of the Taghum area. It is operated by an independent, community-based society of members and volunteers. The hall hosts vibrant community programming of special events and ongoing activities year-round.

It all started back in the early 1950s when the local Russian Doukhobor community needed a place to meet and worship. They formed a society and obtained the present plot of land near the old Taghum bridge, on the site of a former sawmill. With lots of volunteer labour and little money, they built the hall from salvaged buildings from the Lemon Creek Japanese Internment Camp. The original building was wood-heated and had no indoor plumbing.

Over the years, the hall served as a weekly place for Doukhobor worship, plus as a venue for weddings, funerals, meetings, voting, dinners, and dances for both the Russian community and the community at large. The strong volunteer base kept the hall as a vital part of the community.

Now, Taghum Hall's motto is "Building Community, One Event at a Time." Just as its Doukhobor founders valued community and inclusion, so does Taghum Hall today.