Gem of the West Museum in Coaldale opens new barbershop exhibit

Sunny South News Photos by Kristine Jean. BARBERSHOP EXHIBIT: Gem of the West Museum recently completed a new barbershop exhibit, that is ready to welcome visitors. Many of the items that are part of the exhibit have been donated from members of the community and Coaldale residents.

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

There will be something new to explore at the Gem of the West Museum in Coaldale this summer.
The museum recently completed a new barbershop exhibit, that is ready to welcome visitors when Gem of the West opens for the season on May 2. 

“It’s going to be in the basement with the other exhibits,” said Craig Day, Gem of the West Museum Society Manager. “We’ve repurposed one of our spaces and redesigned it (for the exhibit) with all new information, research and some new artifacts that have been pulled out of cold storage that have never been seen before.” 

Day noted all of the artifacts for the new exhibit have been donated from the Coaldale community. 

“We did have a small display in one of our cases and we wanted to really focus on that story because there were so many barbershops and so many salons in Coaldale, and so many stories we can tell,” he said. “That’s what our goal is – to tell the story of the people of Coaldale.” 

Each summer the museum hires a summer student and last year’s student helped design and create the barbershop exhibit, providing their unique perspective and contribution to the project. 

“Every student, whatever they’re working on, brings their own background to (projects). That’s why it’s expanded – there’s the barbershop element but there’s also the beauty parlour element as well,” explained Day, noting the student’s modern contributions to the new exhibit, which includes an interactive feature.  

“With younger students, they always bring a level of technology with them, so we’re developing an ipad app that does hairstyles and hopefully if it’s working by  that point (the season opener), they can take a picture and email it to themselves with different hairstyles,” he added. 

The Gem of the West Museum was awarded a small grant last fall from the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta that will go towards the new exhibit.

“Our application was approved and they contributed that portion to the new exhibit,” said Day, noting some of that money went towards items like information boards that were printed locally, and preparing the exhibit space that included installing new flooring.

Day noted the barbershop exhibit will share that aspect of local history and provide residents and visitors to the museum this summer, with something new to explore and learn about. 

“We want to keep the museum fresh in that way, for all returning visitors and the new ones that come to see us this year. They’ll get to see everything we’ve done,” said Day.