By Angela Brown

Museum Heritage Farm and Village open again for new season

May 14, 2017 | 12:00 PM

The Saskatchewan Western Development Museum in North Battleford, located at the intersection of Highways 16 and 40, is back on its summer schedule and open for visitors.

While the indoor exhibit and gift shop in the main building is open year-round, the outdoor Heritage Farm and Village opens each year starting May 1.

“We are up and running,” Joyce Smith, North Battleford Museum site manager said, adding the site is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week.

“This is definitely our tourist season,” the manager added. “We have a lot of people travelling through and people stopping in. It’s wonderful to get the village open to see all the buildings. We clean all the buildings and get the artifacts ready to show. It’s a very exciting time.”

The museum features 38 different visitors’ sites, including the exhibit gallery and gift shop in the main building.  

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The site experts are continuously assessing the structures and completing maintenance work to make sure the buildings are all in good order.

 “We have over 30 buildings out on the grounds and those require constant maintenance,” Smith said.

The museum’s facilities supervisor is Geordie Smith (no relation to the manager). He is currently working on replacing the cedar-shingle roof of the St. Mary’s Anglican Church building that dates back to 1908. The church came from Lilac, Sask., and was moved to the museum in 1965.

He said sometimes people will have weddings in the historic building.

Restoring the roof for the Merchant’s House is also in the works. The structure was built in 1915 near Fielding, Sask., and came to the museum in 1988.

Also this year, the museum will be upgrading the roof of St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church. The building was constructed in 1918 in Redfield, Sask., and was moved to the museum in 1974. The church was designed to look like the parishioners’ home-church in Warsaw, Poland when it was first built.

Some of the highlights of the Heritage Farm and Village include a grain elevator, a large collection of historical agricultural machinery, as well as a steam locomotive, which is currently undergoing repairs.

The museum also has a replica of an early Co-op Store, as well as a tea room that operates during special occasions. The local schools will be visiting the Heritage Farm and Village on Museum Days in June.

“We do all the demonstrations for the school children,” said manager Joyce Smith, adding kids can take in the workings of a blacksmith’s shop, join in a waggon ride, discover how ice-cream and butter were made in the pioneer days, and learn about early farming practices.

On August 12 and 13 the museum will host “Those Were the Days”, a popular event that’s open to the general public.  

The museum will offer full demonstrations in the village, including demos of workers using some of the early agricultural machinery.   

The Saskatchewan Western Development Museum also has branches in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Yorkton. The North Battleford location has been the longest running since the museum started in 1949.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW