Kronau Marvelous Museum & Creative Corner

Every once in a while, I get to leave my archive and venture out into the daylight and this weekend presented me with one of those occasions! On Sunday (the 22nd) the museum celebrated the grand opening of the Saar School building, a project which has been years in the making. Having only joined the museum at the beginning of August I can’t take any credit for the project, but since coming here I’ve heard all about the journey that the museum has been on to make their dream a reality. Knowing how much work has gone in to restoring this school building, and what it means to so many people, made the opening event so special.

Since I’m usually hidden away, goblin-like, in the archive I don’t get a ton of chances to go out and meet other people in the community and in the wider museum community in the province. Our opening was a great opportunity for me to meet some new people. Some had information for me that will be so useful as I’m cataloguing artifacts, and there were even some people who wanted to see what I’ve been doing with the textile collection! If you know me, you know that I’m physically incapable of not talking about my hangers so to be able to show them off was so exciting. And it was even more exciting to show them off to Proper Museum Professionals who were able to give me the ‘thumbs up’ that I’m doing the right thing!

Sunday was great as it didn’t just give me an opportunity to meet some new people, but it gave some people an opportunity to meet the museum! Over 100 people came out the the Grand Opening which is absolutely bonkers for a small community museum. Amongst the crowd was my partner and his parents (shout out Donna and Doug!) who have heard me talk non-stop about the museum since August and finally got to see what it’s all about. That’s one of my favourite things about these types of events – they’re a chance for all sorts of people to get introduced to the museum and what we’re about, some for the very first time. Come for the hot dogs, stay for the heritage.

This edition of the Collections Diaries hasn’t been particularly collections heavy as I’ve been so focused on getting ready for the Grand Opening/Culture Days event, but stay tuned for some artifact deep dives next week as I start properly documenting our collection!

*We’re open by appointment now that summer is over! Please email kronaumuseum@sasktel.net if you’re looking to visit the museum!