Duane Hicks
The Fort Frances Museum will be doing its part to participate in “Market Thursdays,” serving up tea and scones starting today.
Curator Sherry George said that each Thursday this summer from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., home-made scones courtesy of Janis Flewelling and specialty teas, provided by Smashing Tea, will be served upstairs at the museum.
The cost is $3 per person.
If patrons wish to pay admission to see the exhibit on the main floor of the museum, the total is $5.
“We just want to bring people in through the door. We’re going to give it a try,” noted George, adding the museum has elevator access at the rear.
George said the tea will be served up in fancy tea cups which are on loan to the museum thanks to various local individuals.
“We’ve got some gorgeous donations,” she enthused. “People are dropping stuff by and it’s very nice.”
The serving of tea and scones on a weekly basis throughout the summer eventually will tie into an exhibit on bone china, which will open at the museum in late June.
This will replace the very successful “Our Local Métis Story,” which has been the focal point at the museum since March.
The new exhibit—entitled “Bone China: Gone with the hope chest?”—not only will trace the history of tea and the story of bone china, said George, but which businesses along Scott Street used to sell china.
It also will outline the reasons why people collected special-occasion table-settings, figurines, and heritage plates, as well as traditions surrounding the hope chest.
George added this exhibit will feature even more china on loan from local residents, and she currently is welcoming more people to lend their wares.
“We’re going to have maybe a few complete sets . . . but we’re looking for some samples of different kinds of china,” she noted.
“There’s a lot of different makers of china—Paragon, Royal Doulton, Royal Albert,” George explained.
“If we could get samples of place settings—that includes a dinner plate, a luncheon plate, maybe a soup bowl, and cups and saucers—it gives an idea what the china looked like,” she reasoned.
Anyone else who wants to lend their china to the museum for the exhibit is urged to contact George at 274-7891 or via e-mail at sgeorge@fort-frances.com
George clarified those who lend their china can stipulate whether they want it to be used for tea and scones each Thursday, or whether it’s strictly for display purposes.
She added the exhibit will be monitored, so those who lend their china need not worry about it being broken.
“Hopefully, we don’t run into any accidents,” said George.
“We’ll be very, very careful with them,” she pledged.
