Manitoba Agricultural Museum to reopen

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/05/2020 (2137 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Agricultural Museum, a popular spring and summer destination near Austin, is reopening Friday.

The museum is located on 50 acres of land and boasts 500 pieces of agricultural machinery and 25 buildings with household artifacts. Camping and picnic grounds normally round out the experience.

For now, the museum will be offering reduced hours, new safety measures and new opportunities to rediscover the museum, according to a media release. Only outdoor spaces will be accessible for walk-ins, while the buildings of the Homesteaders Village and the museum indoor exhibits will be accessible by reservation only.

At this time, the campground is closed but the picnic spaces are open, said the museum’s executive director and curator Anaïs Biernat.

Biernat said 16,000 people would normally flock to the museum grounds, the bulk of them in spring and summer. Aside from general admission, there are school tours and events such as the Annual Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede held at the end of July and the Heritage Harvest Festival in late August.

“In May and June, it’s mostly school programs. Right now we are usually quite busy with schools visiting us,” Biernat said.

With school closures, those young visitors won’t be passing through. Similarly, the four-day Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede, which draws approximately 12,000 people, is cancelled until 2021.

“It will certainly affect the (financial) bottom line,” Biernat said, adding it’s hard to say how much at this point.

“We are definitely working on some fundraising ideas, but we’re still at the beginning of the process. We recognize that there are some urgent needs right now for some vulnerable populations, so we obviously don’t want to interfere with that.”

Biernat said the museum is developing other forms of programming, such as smaller events later in the year.

“Some small group programming, guided tours for families — these kinds of things are what we’re trying to work on at this time,” she said.

That includes the possibility of self-guided heritage trails and online opportunities.

Like all cultural institutions, the museum is evolving as the situation around the pandemic changes.

In the meantime, those interested can avail themselves of the new museum hours: Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

People from vulnerable groups are invited to contact the museum to set up times outside of these hours to visit the museum with an even greater focus on self-isolation than they would otherwise receive. A special admission price of $4 for all, and free for those younger than five,  is in effect. Residents of the Rural Municipality of Norfolk can take advantage of free admission until June 13. Identification proving residency is required.

“To ensure all remain safe, new protocols will be in place, such as asking visitors and staff members to self-screen, requiring physical distance between individual, increasing hand-sanitation and cleaning practices and restricting access to indoors areas at the museum,” the museum stated.

Museum staff are back in the office from Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“We cannot wait to welcome our visitors again,” Biernat said.

 » mletourneau@brandonsun.com

» Michele LeTourneau covers Indigenous matters for The Brandon Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.