Some historical displays at the Meadow Lake Museum. (Submitted photos/Millie Henderson)

By Angela Brown

Remembering the past

Meadow Lake and District Museum and Historical Society hopes to gain more members

Jan 4, 2024 | 1:36 PM

The Meadow Lake and District Museum and Historical Society is encouraging anyone interested in taking part to come out to a meeting.

Secretary Millie Henderson noted that the society has about seven regular members of the volunteer group, but she would like to see the numbers boost.

“We are always looking for more members,” she said.

Currently, the youngest member of the volunteers is 70 years old. The group would like to attract some younger members to join as well to bring more people on board.

Henderson said the group is keeping busy rearranging and updating displays at the museum. Some of the many artifacts are stored until room is available to change the display pieces since they can’t all be shown at the same time.

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“We’re working on displays,” Henderson said. “The outdoor compound has to be rearranged. We’re updating existing [exhibits].”

Some of the collection of over 3,000 articles also includes historical books that have been donated and many artifacts of interest to history buffs.

Henderson noted the volunteers try to change the displays periodically to give visitors something new to look at.

The museum was open during the holidays when visitors dropped in for free hot chocolate and cookies while the Festival of Lights was running.

“We had quite a few visitors; the youngest one was 13 months old,” Henderson said. “We had some people comment they had never been in the museum before, so this [event] was a plus.”

The facility will next be open again starting in May for the new tourist season.

“We still do lots of school tours,” Henderson said. “We did a lot of them last year. We had over 100 students, [some] from as far away as Jans Bay at Canoe Lake. [We offered] an explanation of how their great-grandparents might have lived. We do have old skis and skates, which sometimes [the youth] are interested in.”

The museum possesses a few artifacts that are over 100 years old, including a baby’s bamboo buggy from England.

The facility has some Indigenous artifacts, such as hammers and various tools, and aims to acquire a few more items that would be of interest to the community. Some items are handmade reproductions of historical articles, such as traditional moccasins.

The museum also has a vintage radio station, which makes it unique.

“At one time we could even broadcast from there,” Henderson said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @meadowlakenow