Joy Stusek gave the report from the Canora Station House Museum at the annual Seneca Root meeting of museums which was held in Preeceville on April 27.
Hosted by the Preeceville and District Heritage Museum, the meeting, held at Preeceville’s Club 60, was chaired by Darlene Brown of Kamsack, the association’s networker. Attending were representatives of the Canora Station House Museum, the Canora Ukrainian Heritage Museum, Kamsack’s Power House Museum, the National Doukhobor Heritage Village in Veregin, the Fort Pelly-Livingstone Museum at Pelly, the Sturgis Station House Museum, the Preeceville and District Heritage Museum, and the Melville Heritage Museum. The Saltcoats museum was the only member of the association that was not represented.
May-Lin Polk, a representative of the Museums Association of Saskatchewan (MAS), of which all the Seneca Root museums are members, was the special guest speaker.
Polk discussed a pilot project that made use of a new Internet database and said that because the trials of the database had been successful, each of the museums in the association will be provided with it.
This new database is a big thing and it will allow for the standardization of the artifacts in all the museums, Brown explained.
Polk also talked about how to label historic artifacts and new methods of labelling, Brown said, adding that Polk is very knowledgeable and always “comes up with something new and interesting.”
Representatives discussed a new brochure that has been printed for the association and each was given copies of the new Seneca Root calendar which is a poster containing all of the events scheduled by the member museums during the year. Copies of the poster are to be distributed in each of the communities.
Canora Station House
Because the Canora Station House Museum is used off season for various town social events, it is used year round, said Stusek. Use of the centre increases awareness and interest in the museum and of “our” history. Her report was about how the Station House Museum is used in Canora.
A map was created to feature the ranchers in the area, Stusek said. New signage was created to better display the 1914-1918 quilt. All together, these bits of information tell the story of the settling of the Canora area from the time of the fur trade.
“In preparation for our Winter Lights Festival, we had our nativity scene set up in front of the Station. Sleigh rides were provided from the station, and there was hot chocolate and hot apple cider available in the visitors’ centre. There were activities all week with a parade, a bonfire at the sports grounds, free hot dogs and hot chocolate. That evening was topped off with an amazing display of fireworks.”
Stusek said a cleaning bee has been booked for May 16. There are plans to do some planting and fix up some outdoor displays.
During the summer, one of the major events for the community will be a trade show and a gun show on June 11 and 12, which will be run in conjunction with a community garage sale. The Visitors’ Centre and Museum will be open June 13 and will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on Sundays when it will be open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. There will be two volunteers working in the morning and one volunteer and a student employee will work in the afternoons.
“Our Farmers Market will start on June 23 and will run every Thursday in front of the museum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.”
The Canora in Bloom week starts on July 18. The museum’s contribution is the hot dog sale on July 20.
“Our most interesting acquisition for the museum last year was a C.N. crossing light which is going to be set up in front of the museum, possibly with the solar lights,” said Stusek.
The association’s autumn meeting will be held in Veregin on October 26, and Kamsack will host the event next April.
