After a minor setback earlier in the year, the third-annual Pushing Up Daisies Fair heads to Rainycrest Long-Term Care Home tomorrow, Thursday, September 25, 2025, to help the community both young and old about learn more about something we all must face eventually.
The Fair has been a multi-year effort on the part of the Sunset Country Palliative Care Team, who have joined with other community organizations to hold the fair in various locations in the district. According to Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Geriatric Mental Health Worker Norma Reather, one of the co-organizers of the event, this year’s fair was scheduled for earlier this year, but had to be postponed due to an outbreak at the Long-Term Care Home. Now, however, is the perfect time to get it back on its feet.
“It’s our third-annual Pushing Up Daisies Fair, and Rainycrest is hosting it for us in their Hallett Hall,” Reather said.
“It’s a come and go situation where we have booths set up from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., but we do have some guest speakers. At 1:30 p.m. we have Gale Gagnier, who is a local death doula from International Falls. People can come and learn about what a death doula is and how they help support families, which is great, and the person dying themselves. Then at 2:30 p.m. we have Laura Wilson, who’s going to be speaking about advance care plans, so people who are interested in getting their wishes and values written down, they can learn about advance care plans and substitute decision makers.”
Reather said there will be 13 individual information booths run by collaborating organizations like Riverside Community Support Services, the Alzheimer Society, Community Paramedicine, and CMHA Fort Frances, among others. Outside of organizations, individuals will also be present to represent different aspects of life, and of the district, such as Emo Library CEO Nick Donaldson, and stroke advocate Nathan Galusha.
The goal of the fair is to drag the often taboo subject of death out into the open in an effort to normalize conversations about a universal part of life, something every one of us will face eventually. Reather pointed to the 1930s, when an individual more often than not would die in their own home and be taken care of by the community as they passed, before the health care system brought dying into sterilized halls and out of greater public view.
“What Pushing Up Daisies is about is that information gives choice to people coming and having these conversations,” Reather said.
“We don’t have to have death or end of life or palliative care be taboo topics that they’ve been for many years. What we’re trying to get people to understand is, get your legal stuff in order, talk about these topics, it shouldn’t be a taboo topic because it’s going to happen to us all. There’s a book Dr. Kathy Kortes-Miller wrote that’s called “Talking About Death Won’t Kill You,” so end of life doesn’t have to be a bad topic.”
Reather also noted that the Fair hopes to show people that palliative care also falls under the “need not be taboo” banner, as it really just means care for those with chronic pain or other chronic issues.
While there are many organizations that deal with health care in the district, Reather noted that rarely do they get the opportunity to discuss death, which is why the Pushing Up Daisies Fair invites those organizations so that visitors can get as much information as possible and try to dispel the spectre of the taboo, and other topics associated with it, like anxiety.
“Anxiety, or death anxiety, can be something that can be alleviated, can be supported,” she said.
“You don’t get over it overnight, but death anxiety can be something that, the more you talk about it, the more you learn about it, and like I said earlier, information gives choice. You don’t have to be fearful of it. You can learn how to deal with it or help your family.”
The Fair is open to the public, and Reather said those both young and old are encouraged to attend, owing to the universal nature of the subject.
The Pushing Up Daisies Fair runs tomorrow, Friday, September 25, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. at Hallett Hall in Rainycrest Long-Term Care Home.
