Last Saturday saw 36 people from Timmins and surrounding area attend the Timmins Fur Council tanning workshop.
After registering, everyone was handed a two-page step-by-step instruction booklet to follow during the seminar while tanning their pelts/hides.
In a joint effort with the Ontario Fur Managers Federation, the tanning workshop was filmed to create an educational video on the topic.
Timmins Fur Council vice president, Aaron Powers, put together a very informative course that included all the information, tanning equipment/products, and pelts that were used during the course. Aaron also brought some other pelts that he had already tanned to show what the final result would look like and how they would feel.
Before the meeting started, Aaron asked everyone to introduce themselves and explain why they were taking the course. The gentleman sitting next to me was Bill Russell and was celebrating his 83rd birthday. He told everyone that the reason he was there was “you are never too old to learn."
During the break, I had the pleasure of talking with him. During our conversation, I learned that Mr. Russell had been trapping for over 70 years and that he was the first president of the Timmins Fur Council. Back then, it was known as the Timmins Trappers Association. It was founded 51 years ago this year.
The Timmins Fur Council is looking forward to hosting additional workshops in the future. If anyone has any workshops they would like to see, they're more than welcome to email ideas to [email protected].
I would like to send out a special thank you to Kaileigh Russell for letting me know the course was being filmed to create an educational video on tanning.
