Duane Hicks
Canada is celebrating its 150th birthday in 2017 and the Fort Frances Museum is recruiting people to help make it a year to remember.
An inaugural meeting will be held there next Thursday (March 3) at 5:15 p.m.
The museum is forming a committee to plan the exhibit, which will follow the theme “transportation,” as well as think of events and programming, museum curator Sherry George said yesterday afternoon.
“We’ve talked to a few different groups that have really wanting to do something with bush planes, with steamboat travel, and different things like that,” she noted.
“So we thought maybe that’s a good theme for ‘150’ because everything started here with the canoe and snowshoes and that sort of thing,” added George.
“I think we could build a decent exhibit around that.”
The museum will borrow a bush plane exhibit from the one in Kenora, which includes a virtual plane set-up and flying simulator.
But George noted there are many local enthusiasts who can help build the exhibit to reflect a broader picture of
transportation history here.
“We’re hoping to get people from the community who have a background in that,” she remarked.
“We know we have people such as Charleen Mallory that are interested in the bush plane background and that can add their perspective to that.
“We once had a boat-building place on the river—the Russel Brothers—and, of course, there are people like the Fagerdahls who make their own kayaks,” added George.
“There are people who make canoes.
“The steamboats were a huge part of our history,” she stressed. “We had many, many boats that went the distance here.
“We feel that it is a subject that a lot of people can help with.”
Beyond the exhibit, George would like to hear people’s ideas for events and programming to engage the public next year.
“What sort of events could we have? Maybe we can [have] somebody demonstrate kayak-building—that sort of thing,” she offered.
The museum wants to run activities from next April right through to October, so they’re at least partially going to tie into the school year.
“We want events that the school kids can come and do,” George reasoned.
She added not all the events have to tie into the transportation theme—some simply may have to do with celebrating “our vibrant past.”
These could range from snowshoeing or building an ice fort from ice pulled out of a Sand Bay to celebrating partnerships with area First Nations, the likes of which laid the foundation for this community.
George said it’s hoped the committee will tap into federal “Canada 150” funding to do one or more projects.
It’s also possible some of their events could take place at the future Rainy Lake Market Square.
“There’s a lot of people who have come forward and said, ‘Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that?’” noted George.
“And so we’re hoping to pull people together and say, ‘What do you think we can as a group, as a community?’” she added.
“Let’s do something good.”
