The Souris Valley Museum’s expansion is complete, and now they are venturing into unchartered territory.
The museum is hosting its first-ever spring program, an archaeology camp for children ages five to 10. It started Tuesday afternoon and will continue until Friday.
“The kids will learn all about dinosaurs in the area, early First Nations and Métis history, legends and stories,” said Veneziano. “Continuing on in the week, they’re going to learn about soils, rocks and what you can find in the ground.”
The last day of the camp will include an archaeological dig in which the kids will find various items. Those items will be put on display at the museum.
The spring program, and the early opening of the museum, are due to the expansion. Some lingering cleanup work was needed on Thursday so that the expansion would be ready for the camp.
The new space includes a programming and multipurpose room, and two permanent washrooms.
Veneziano noted the museum’s board members raised the funds for the addition before he arrived in 2015, and the museum received a grant from Affinity Credit Union.
“When we broke ground in November, I was really looking forward to offering the community of Estevan something different and something fun to do during our spring programs, as well as looking into fall and winter programs, which I am trying to figure out,” said Veneziano.
Veneziano said it feels great to offer a spring program at the museum.
After the camp is finished, the museum will be closed again for a few days. It will reopen on May 1 with reduced hours, but it will be open for five days a week.
Veneziano said there are a few reasons why the museum will be closed in late April. They still have a winter office, and they are in the process of shifting the winter office’s operations to the museum. They also want to spruce up the grounds.
The museum will be open seven days a week starting during the Victoria Day long weekend.
The museum will launch their 2017 season, and celebrate their status as a year-round attraction, with a grand reopening celebration and their annual Cowpokes and Cookouts event on May 27, starting at 10 a.m.
“We always do Cowpokes and Cookouts for the opening of our season,” said Veneziano.
Visitors can enjoy museum tours, schoolhouse re-enactments, crafts, hay rides, a chili cook-off and other activities. Last year they had a baked beans competition.
“We’re looking at changing the competition each year, or every couple of years, just to make something different for the community to come and taste and try and get involved in,” said Veneziano.
The museum will be open seven days a week throughout the summer, and then resume being open five days a week in September. It will be open for the rest of the year.
Veneziano is looking forward to seeing the impact that being open year-round will have on the museum’s visitor numbers.
“Being open year-round provides the community with a place to come during all of the seasons,” said Veneziano. “It will allow us to do new programming out here at the museum, and also increase our numbers and our public awareness.
“As I’ve said in the past, being open on a seasonal basis, from May long weekend to the September long weekend, when we closed our doors, we found sometimes people might have forgotten about us, so being open year-long will allow us to provide the community with a place to come.”
