Gem of the West Museum opens for the season on May 3

Sunny South News Photo by Kristine Jean. SEASON OPENS: The Gem of the West Museum will open for the season this Sat. May 3 with its annual family-friendly season opener featuring free admission, live entertainment, activities, a food truck, games, blacksmith demos and more, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Society manager, Craig Day, stands in front of the interactive music board in the new music room exhibit at the museum. For more information visit www.gemofthewest.ca

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

Springtime has arrived and with it comes the opening of local, seasonal attractions including Coaldale’s Gem of the West Museum.  

The museum will welcome area residents and visitors to it’s family-friendly season opener, taking place this Sat. May 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year, the Gem of the West Museum Society is also celebrating its 35th anniversary.   

“It’s to showcase all the things we’ve done in the off-season at the museum – new exhibits, how we’ve moved things around and the behind-the-scenes stuff that’s done in the off-season,” said society manager Craig Day. “We have free admission for the museum that day.”     

The day-long event will feature Boots the goat, a food truck, carnival games, a caricature artist, musical entertainment by Maple Fusion, and a blacksmith demonstration among other things. 

During the off-season the museum often streamlines things and will sometimes move them to help improve displays and exhibit locations, noted Day, adding there’s at least one new exciting exhibit at the museum this season. 

“Our big one that we’re showcasing is our music room exhibit. We’ll have instruments and you’ll get to see the record players, the radios, and learn about Coaldale’s music history,” said Day. “It’ll have a few storyboards about that Coaldale connection – there’s a bit about Les Hanley, who had the Happy Homesteaders Band. He travelled all over southern Alberta with his band.” 

The Gem of the West Museum Society formed in 1995. The museum building is owned by the Town of Coaldale and the society operates the museum within it and is a registered non-profit organization. From 1995 the society fundraised all money required to do restoration work for the building Day noted, adding the museum was originally a Mennonite Brethren Church.

 “This building was built in 1939. It took the society about six years of restoration work and they opened the doors for the museum officially, in 2001,” he said. 

In addition to the new music room, visitors to Gem of the West Museum will also see several other exhibits including a blacksmith shop, a general store, CP Rail exhibit, a butcher shop, laundry room, a cafe, a school, and Indigenous history exhibits. Upstairs, the museum also has an art gallery. 

“We do encompass as much of Coaldale’s history as we can (including) the Mennonite history because they’re a big part of the community,” said Day, adding the museum also participates in events throughout the season, including Coaldale’s Summerfest, the annual Coaldale parade, a craft show and a fundraiser in the fall. 

The museum will be open during the season from May to September, six days a week, Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Day noted the importance of the community support, including the Coaldale Kinsmen Club and Lethbridge County, who have helped with the season opening event for the past couple of years. 

“Like a library in a community or anything arts-related, history is culture and protecting that aspect of our community culture is vital,” said Day. “The big mixing pot of all the different cultures that made it be the way it is…it’s all part of our history and it’s all important.”