The festival began as the idea of a small group who wanted to celebrate the idea of life on a Wainfleet farm in the late 1800s.

With two buildings, grand dreams and a $5,000 loan from the township, they held the first festival, attracting a small number of demonstrators and about 5,000 people.

"Two weeks later, they came back and paid back the whole $5,000 because the attendance was so great they had no problem making back the money," said this year's chair, Margaret Robertson.

Since then, the Marshville committee has proudly stressed they do not receive any sort of government funding.

Part of that is because the 32,000 hours volunteers have given up over the years. No one is paid for any work, not even token mileage payments.

"From that time on we've been self-sustaining," said Bob Shoalts, the founding chair.

Shoalts, along with Ken Dayboll, Art Dean and Bob Dean were honoured at this year's event with the unveiling of a plaque for their work in getting the original Marshville Heritage Festival off the ground.

Mayor Barb Henderson noted that she can't imagine Wainfleet without Marshville and that the two words "have become synonymous."