Most area attraction operators are catching their breath after a busy summer, and the East Coulee School Museum is also contented with rise in visitorship.
Barb Steeves, executive director of the East Coulee School Museum said while the Museum does not compile detailed statistics, she says they saw a marked increase of visitorship.
“Revenues were up and attendance was up,” said Steeves, adding there was a positive vibe throughout the valley.
While there was an overall increase, she says at time it was really all over the board. There were long weekends where they felt they were down a bit, while some weekdays were unusually busy.
“We had more tours, through the tour company we have been dealing with from Calgary, and also locally with the trolley. We are open to doing more of that in the future.”
“We are starting to see more groups booking to come and see the place, people are realizing it is something to do.”
It was a big year for the museum as they saw the initial phase of their refurbishing project. On September 21, the crew from TKNT Mechanical out of Rosedale was putting the finishing touches on the boiler system. Now the museum has a reliable heating system.
Steeves said the next step for the museum is to complete its Heritage assessment. This will give them a snapshot of the condition of the museum.
“This is to prioritize on what needs to be done; what needs to stay heritage and what needs revitalizing.” She said.
“Next will be the building envelope, the roof and the foundation before we get at the inside.
This is all predicated on raising the needed funds.
“We have some funds for the heritage assessment, but we have to build up some more to get that done. Once we have that, we can apply for heritage grants every year, so we are just starting to look at that. We need to start building up the kitty again.
To that end, they have a number of events planned, new and old.
“We are looking at some smaller events with music, and even some theatre productions out here in conjunction with Rosebud and we are looking into doing Christmas at Fanny’s with the Atlas Coal Mine on December 4,” she said. “We have a fundraiser in January where we have hired a really good Celtic band out of Red Deer, so we are pulling that together.”
