The Red River Basin Commission will take some time next month to reflect on the flood of the century.

2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the historical spring flood that hit the Red River Valley back in 1997 and initiated an evacuation of some homes and whole communities.

The Commission has scheduled a public wine and cheese event in Morris on the evening of Wednesday, July 12 where people will be able to share stories of that historical flood and reflect on some of the mitigation work that has been completed and that is still ongoing.

"We want to talk about the event and look back," said Steve Strang, Manitoba director for the Basin Commission. "There are some things we still grieve for, but there's some things we can now laugh about too. We have some great people coming in and presenting some of the stories that happened since the 1997 flood, but we also want to talk about what has been done since that time by taking a look at our infrastructure, our road building, our dike system, our water retention areas and see what we have done and what more needs to be done."

Strang says they hope to put together a guest panel that would include former RM of Morris reeve Herm Martens and the former mayor for the Town of Morris, Dale Hoffman. He says this is event for the public to participate in and to share their own knowledge and experience.

"By doing this, we can build on a situation so that when extreme events hit, like the '97' flood, we're prepared for it."