The Westlock Pioneer Museum is bringing the past to the present May 19 with the official museum season opening.
To kick off Victoria Day May 22, the museum is cooking up syrupy pancakes from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Afterwards, guests can burn off the calories and take a walk back in time while checking out the museum’s exhibits. Entry is free, or by donation.
“Our museum, we call it a hidden gem,” said Art Avery, president of the Westlock and District Historical Society. “People don’t realize that in a town the size of Westlock there can be a museum of the quality and size of what we’ve got here. We’re thankful to have had several people, the avid collectors, that have chosen to display their collection at the museum.”
The museum has several permanent exhibits: the phonograph exhibit donated by Bernard and Audrey Weise, the gun exhibit from the Trueblood family, the Mildred Hay doll collection and the Aladdin lamp display from Max and Mary Weise.
“The Aladdin lamp display is one of the most complete Aladdin lamp displays in Canada,” Avery said.
“In other words, every model that was made, it’s in the display. It’s quite a large room and both walls of the room are (covered) with lamps under glass, fully viewable.”
As part of the museum’s ongoing project, Max and Mary Weise have brought in 16 electric Aladdin lamps.
“Very few people ever knew that Aladdin made electric lamps,” Avery noted. “Most of them were kerosene.”
The display features a Hopalong Cassidy lamp, a nightlight adorned with the image of cowboy Hopalong Cassidy, in addition to a second Hopalong Cassidy lamp in the shape of a pistol in a gun holster.
Most of the items in the museum are from local donors, including a new display of 200 area history books from a Westlock resident.
Now to really live and experience a blast from the past, the museum has set up scenes of schoolrooms, kitchens, and dining rooms from back in the day.
That also includes a hospital display complete with hospital bed and equipment from the days of the Immaculata Hospital in Westlock, which was around from 1927 to 1995.
“We have a world-class museum here to put it bluntly,” Avery added.
Besides the collection from the early settlers to the area, the museum contains a 3,000-year-old arrowhead from the times of the nomadic First Nations people, one of the oldest items in the collection.
The museum will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Labour Day. Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for students and $10 for families.
The Wheels of Class Show and Shine is planned for July 9 and entry to museum will be by donation.
