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Kettle River Museum gets 21st-century upgrades thanks to grants

The museum in Midway is now open seven days a week
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Midway’s Kettle River Museum is coming back to life thanks in part to local donors.

The museum 907 Highway 3 has enjoyed a sweeping technological upgrade since it returned at its pre-pandemic capacity earlier this month, curator Wendy Higashi told the Times Thursday, July 22. Everything from educational pamphlets to grant applications and archival accessions will be easier to handle thanks to the museum’s new digital scanner and its two new computers, she added.

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“We had a computer before, but that one was pretty old,” Higashi said, adding that the museum’s new scanner is a huge improvement over its “hopeless” predecessor. The new equipment will carry the museum over the next five years, she said.

A mannequin train conductor eyes the Kettle River Museum’s station house. Photo courtesy of the Kettle River Museum
A mannequin train conductor eyes the Kettle River Museum’s station house. Photo courtesy of the Kettle River Museum

The upgrade was made possible first by a donation by the West Boundary Community Forest, McMynn’s Family Foods, McMynn’s Ace Building Centre and, most recently, a nearly $1,700 grant from the Midway Partnership Fund.

Higashi noted that the museum, shuttered amid last year’s COVID-19 restrictions, is rapidly gaining traction with local tourists.

“People who would normally be traveling out of the area are sticking around and we’re seeing a lot of people from the Penticton and Kelowna areas,” she explained.

The museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Special features include the caboose and original train station house.

For more information, visit the museum’s website at kettlerivermuseum.org or call their office at 250-449-2614.


 

@ltritsch1
laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca

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laurie.tritschler@boundarycreektimes.com

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