Cultural fun in the sun: a survey of western summer destinations reveals diverse and exciting ways to add a little culture to your holiday.

AS Canada enters its 140th year, this summer is a great time to explore some of our history and put a cultural spin on the family vacation. Now, don't start backing away--there are a lot of funky places to visit in western Canada that slip in the cultural component without eliciting a single yawn.

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Hie away to Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, off the west coast of British Columbia, and the brand new Haida Heritage Centre at Qay'llnagaay. The glass and cedar complex is modelled after a traditional Haida village, and houses a carving shed, canoe house, theatre, gallery and teaching centre, beside an expanded Haida Gwaii Museum.

Or immerse yourself in the fine art of sculpture--sand sculpture, that is. Choose from the Canadian Open Sand Sculpting Competition, Aug. 10-12 in Parksville on Vancouver Island, or the Vancouver Sun World Championships of Sand Sculpture at Harrison Hot Springs, Sept. 4-9.

If you want to stick to the mainland, check out the Gingolx Crabfest, July 6-7. One of the most spectacular highlights of this northern B.C. festival (besides the crab feast) is the performance by the Gitmaxmak'ay Nisga'a Dancers, a troupe of 112 traditional dancers, drummers and singers.

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Get poised to polka at the 33rd annual Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships, July 9-14, one of the largest accordion events in the world. Or strike up a different tune at the Kamloopa Pow Wow in Kamloops, Aug. 3-5, where grass dancing, the oldest form of powwow dance, is highlighted, and western Canada's largest collection of aboriginal relics will be on display.

Crossing the Rockies into Alberta, Edmonton offers more culture than could fill West Edmonton Mall. Consider a visit to the Royal Alberta Museum and (don't nod off, now), think of this: bug room--live bugs, in your hand. The kids will get a kick out of handling a giant African millipede or Emperor scorpion while learning more than you ever wanted to know about insects at the Natural History Gallery. Then check out the dioramas in the Wild Alberta Gallery--among the best in the world.

In the early 1890s, a quarter of a million people from the Ukraine came to Canada in search of a better life, and one of their first settlements is located northeast of Edmonton. The award-winning Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, between Fort Saskatchewan and Vermilion, recreates the lives of those pioneers up to 1930, through a living history approach with costumed interpreters in more than 30 restored buildings.

The West would not be what it is without the North West Mounted Police. In Saskatchewan, head to the brand new RCMP Heritage Centre where history and law combine for some wild and woolly tales. Then get a contemporary thrill with the Cracking the Case exhibit, which highlights the high-tech side of modern policing.

Explore the culture of the Metis at West Side Stories: The Metis of Northwest Saskatchewan. The exhibit at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre at the University of Saskatoon features maps, photographs, scale models, audio-visual modules and examples of Metis life. For a more rollicking, live taste of Metis culture, head to the John Arcand Fiddle Fest for music, dances and games, Aug. 9-12, at Windy Acres, southwest of Saskatoon. Make an artful entrance into Manitoba at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba in Brandon. The dynamic crew at the gallery curates such provocative and fun exhibits as Painter Pants, a group show running July 5 through Aug. 18 that asks "who wears the pants now (and how are they wearing them)?" and the multimedia presentation Shadow Princesses by Deborah Forbes, which looks at how popular images of princesses influence our perceptions of girlhood.

Check out Winnipeg's colourful history with Muddy Waters Tours. Guided downtown walks reveal the city's historical drama, intrigue and precedents, with a variety of treks running May 25 through Oct. 1: the Boom and Bust of Winnipeg; Brookside Cemetery; Pestilence, Shamans and Doctors; and Murder, Mystery and Mayhem.

Happy trails.