Large influxes of Ukrainians settled this region in the mid-1890s, part of a mass immigration undertaken by the federal government.
A spinning wheel mounted on a cairn in town is the only visible reminder today that Sifton is also the birthplace of Canada's iconic fashion item of the 1950s, the Mary Maxim sweater.
Local residents still speak of the village blacksmith, John Weselowski, in the early 1930s, going broke trying to shoe horses for a living, who, with his brother George started manufacturing spinning wheels instead.
The blacksmith, John Weselowski, eventually partnered with Willard McPhedrain, a community promoter and CN agent at the time, who had the idea of creating knitting patterns with Canadian symbols.
Children from Sifton's large families left for education and fortune elsewhere, frequently Dauphin, which became the major economic centre of the Parklands.