For those who love living life on the wild side, the Pembina Valley Rendezvous and Trade Fair is the place to be.

Located at Stanley Park southwest of Morden, the event organized by the Pembina Valley Fur Council, offers friendly competitions, demonstrations, and plenty of food.

Dennis Rex has been an organizer for many years and says their Saturday shooting and archery competitions are always crowd drawers.

"It's a big afternoon; we're getting into that 35 to 40 shooters for the 22 shoot. We try and run them through as quick as we can, but it's a busy afternoon for that and try to get shooters through that want to go into the archery competition."

Other competitions include knife and tomahawk throwing, and the ladies frying pan toss but those aren't the only events that get people excited. Rex says the Rendezvous attracts all sorts of people who enjoy sharing their stories and specialties; blacksmiths, leatherworkers, trappers, a man named Pinky and even archeologists.

"If you have an old hammerhead, arrowhead or something you want to learn a little more about, bring it along, and they will try and answer some of your questions."

However, for Johan Batrsch, his interest in the event goes beyond the competitions and vendors.

"For me, it's a reconnection to history and nature. We do the trapping and hunting stuff here, and it's a great way to reconnect with our roots, with the people who settled this country and made it what it is."

Batrsch says he will be attending Rendezvous for the foreseeable future as his five boys, and two girls keep him busy and enjoy the event as well.