As Canada Day draws nigh, do visit us at the Storytellers’ tent. Quesnel Museum and Archives is the proud sponsor of this event. Not all stories are by pioneers. Last year we had some excellent fish stories and a story about immigrating to Canada. Storytelling time is from 11a.m. – 1:30 p.m., ending just in time for the Seniors’ Tea. If you have a story you would like to tell, call me at 250-992-5875 and let me know. And if you are a Senior over 60 and would like to attend the Seniors’ Tea, make a reservation by calling 250-992-5875.
Plans to have a higher profile in our community are all coming together as museum commissioners and the manager settled on dates for our up-coming events.
June 28 the Quesnel Museum and Archives will have a booth in the Williams Lake Stampede Street Party mall. There will be pictures and cards and all manner of items relating to the Cariboo and Chilcotin area, all this in hopes that the people of Williams Lake, Sugar Cane, Riske Creek, Alexis Creek areas will be able to identify some, any, or all of the people in those pictures. At the same time, two members will be walking around with display trays of artifacts from our Museum.
And on the day of the Billy Barker Days Parade, there will be four of those trays complete with artifacts from our Museum. Before the parade commences, commissioners will be carrying trays around, displaying some of our collection and hopefully enticing people with small samplings of just what we have to offer, encouraging them to visit our Museum. Included in the mini-history lesson will be a printed schedule of our events, including free admission to our museum for Saturday and Sunday.
Starting in September, the Museum will be hosting a Ladies Night Out, step back in time to a more luxurious aspect of being a woman. Mark Sept. 24 as the date.
October will be a Candlelight Tour as we go through the museum and hear the rest of the story. Oct. 24 is the date.
November will feature a Men’s Night Out with items of interest to the male of the species, well, some women might like them too. Save the date, Nov. 27.
December, as always, features our Christmas Gift Shop Sale with 20 per cent off our regular gift items and books.
In January, we want to chase the winter woes away and have a Movie Night. Get into your jammies or not and come down to watch movies about Quesnel and the Cariboo’s historical past. Jan. 23, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.
February is Heritage Month and during Heritage Week, Elizabeth Hunter, our museum manager, will be presenting a workshop How to Care for Your Family Treasures. You’ll have to register for this one, as it is certain to be a crowd-pleaser.
I do hope you are marking all this on your calendar because in March, during Spring Break, we will invite the children of Quesnel to come down to do some old-fashioned snowshoeing. After getting their exercise, they’ll come in and learn how hot chocolate was made back then and warm up as they do some crafts or watch a movie.
We trust there is something for everyone throughout the year.
Hope to see you as you ‘pass time’ at the Museum.
Honey Affleck is chair of the museum commission and regular Observer contributor.