The Dinosaur Valley Heritage Society is moving forward with a bold new plan to revitalize the aging East Coulee School Museum.
Recently, the Heritage Society contracted Paul Conrad & Associates Ltd. to create a new business plan for the School Museum, with the goal for remediation and redevelopment.
“We’re doing a top down engineering review of the School Museum, strategic business plan, and a scan of the market to see where we fit into the local tourism sector,” said Brent Noland, president of the Dinosaur Valley Heritage Society. “Instead of reacting to each new emergency, we decided to step back and set ourselves up strategically for the next 20 years.”
To help the process, the Heritage Society is asking stakeholders to participate in the study.
“Our board of directors wants our stakeholders and partners to be aware the first step will be conducting interviews and surveys with organizations involved with the museum and its programs,” said Noland. “We encourage them to take some time to have their views known and to be a part of the process.”
The resulting business plan aims to gain feedback from stakeholders regarding priorities, learn about the current use of the building and assess future program needs, analyze the market of the museum, conduct a site and building review, develop a capitalization strategy, and develop a process to implement the plan.
Funding for the study was provided by Canalta.
The decision to develop the business plan was made after the museum boiler broke down last winter and most of the plumbing was damaged this winter.
“We had a gas back-up heater, keeping things just above freezing in the museum, but it failed just before Christmas. So, a bunch of our plumbing cracked. We looked at it and decided it wasn’t really worth fixing, so we’re doing a major plumbing upgrade, which is a must before SpringFest,” said Noland.
The goal is to have a new plan in place by June.
“I feel we are on the verge of some very exciting times. With the challenges we face as a community, it is important we meet them head on and solicit the input of our stakeholders to ensure the path we choose for the museum is a clear one,” said Noland. “We are excited for the opportunity to respond to our museum’s needs.”
