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Museum dealing with leaky roof

A leaky roof threatens to damage the many valuable artifacts housed in the Westlock Pioneer Museum, the Westlock Historical Society’s executive told town council last week.
Historical society president Steve Chodan looks into a garbage can set up to collect water dripping from the ceiling in the Pioneer Museum. The leaking roof is threatening
Historical society president Steve Chodan looks into a garbage can set up to collect water dripping from the ceiling in the Pioneer Museum. The leaking roof is threatening the museum’s collection of antique phonographs.

A leaky roof threatens to damage the many valuable artifacts housed in the Westlock Pioneer Museum, the Westlock Historical Society’s executive told town council last week.

President Steve Chodan, secretary Sheila Trueblood and treasurer Karen Letts made a presentation to council at the March 28 meeting, which served as both an update on the year and a request for action on the roof.

“We are having major roof leakage problems at the museum,” Chodan said. “We have had to move some of the phonographs and some of the dolls and many other things that are precious to us to protect them from the moisture that has come in from the roof.”

Town maintenance workers have been emptying the buckets of water that collect under the leaks, but this is obviously only a temporary solution.

Even though the exhibits are no longer directly threatened by the water, the leaks are persistent and the added humidity could do substantial damage to some of the more delicate artifacts.

The antique phonographs and dolls, both collections that were donated to the museum by private individuals, are housed in the museum’s expansion, as opposed to the older part of the building that once housed the municipal swimming pool.

The specific location of the leak is where the roof from the original building meets the roof from the addition, Chodan said.

“We really don’t know what would be the best solution,” he said.

Town CAO Darrell Garceau said that town staff is aware of the problem, which has been exacerbated by the unusually heavy snowfall this year.

Town staff is looking at tracking down the exact source of the problem and has removed a lot of snow from the roof to mitigate the risk to the exhibits, but a permanent solution must be found, he said.

“Right now, a lot of the exhibits are at risk,” Garceau said. “Something needs to be done or they stand to lose some of their collection.”

Garceau added town maintenance staff will be in contact with the original contractor to try to come to a solution on the issue.

Letts told council that despite the leaky roof, the museum had an excellent year last year. They had a total of 2,200 visitors, which is up from the 1,500 visitor they had the year before.

“We had a great summer visitor season,” she said. “Actually, it was our best ever.”

There were a variety of activities last summer that had an influence on drawing visitors to the museum, but Letts said people just telling their friends about it had a significant effect.

“Worth of mouth advertising is by far our most powerful tool,” she said.

The added attendance, however, has not necessarily meant increased revenue, as many of those visitors came on free days.

The official opening of the doll collection, for example, was free to the public, as was the Antique Car Show & Shine, hosted in conjunction with the Wheels of Class car club.

Letts and Chodan both said they anticipate an even better turnout this year, starting with their opening day May 21 followed by their annual pancake breakfast May 23.

“Seeing is believing,” Chodan said. “I can tell you all about it but being there is better than hearing what I have to say.”

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