Grande Prairie Heritage Discovery Centre. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

International Museum Day

City of Grande Prairie celebrating International Museum Day

Sep 4, 2020 | 5:30 AM

The City of Grande Prairie is encouraging residents throughout the Peace County to celebrate International Museum Day on September 5.

International Museum Day was started in 1977 by the International Council of Museums and its celebrated around the world.

It usually takes place in May, but due to COVID-19, the event was moved until September 5.

In 2019, over 37,000 museums around the world took part in the event in 128 different countries.

Charles Taws, the Curator and Historical Resources Supervisor for the City of Grande Prairie says there is lots for people to check out.

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“At the Grande Prairie Museum, we have an indigenous craft, led by the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre. At the Heritage Discovery Centre we have a community mural that’ll be located in the meeting room and visitors will have a chance to paint a portion of that mural and all the arts supplies will be provided.”

“The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum has a few different activities happening throughout the museum and they are featuring free entry that day.”

All of the activities at the museums will have COVID-19 rules and regulations in place to ensure that everyone will be safe.

There is also a scavenger hunt that is taking place at all three museums. Taws tells EverythingGP that there are prizes up for grabs.

“On the Goose Chase app there will be scavenger hunts available, and these hunts there is one for each site and there are 10 questions for each site. Those that fill out all 10 questions for each (of the) three sites can enter for the grand prize, (and) there will be smaller prizes for those who only complete the scavenger hunt at one site.”

Taws says that organizers are still determining what the winning prizes will be.

Food trucks will also be on-site at the Heritage Discovery Centre for the duration of the day.

The day’s events get going at 12:00 p.m. and runs until 5:00 p.m. As Taws mentioned, the museums are free for the entire day.

The City of Grande Prairie says that it wants to make sure that everyone in the city can experience the day for free.

As a result, the city is offering free shuttle busses from the Heritage Discovery Centre to the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Wembley so they can visit all of the museums and get the full experience.

“It’s good for those who don’t have a car, so they can get out to Wembley and see the museum, it’s a spectacular facility,” said Taws.

The free shuttles will leave every 20 minutes between the Heritage Discovery Centre and the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum.

Those interested in attending International Museum Day in Grande Prairie are asked to pre-register before entering a museum. This will allow for organizers to control how many people are in a building at once.

Registrations can be made at the cities website.

The bus rides do not have to be pre-registered for, but physical distancing practices will be in place for all of the rides.

Anyone with extra questions are asked to contact the City of Grande Prairie.