by Dorothy Blunden
Submitted
You are invited to an open house at the Windermere Valley Museum on March 20 from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.
Displays will feature the Provincial Parks and green spaces in our Valley, ones you know and perhaps some you have forgotten about.
If this is your stay-at-home year or you have visitors coming who will need entertaining then this is the place for you. Come and get ideas for a summer heritage “STAY-CATION”.
Members of the Historical Society will be on hand to chat with you and pour you a cup of tea/coffee while you look around. Only the main building will be open for this special continuation of Heritage Week and the celebration of 100 years for the Parks of B.C.
The first provincial park in B.C. was Strathcona Park (1911) on Vancouver Island. The first provincial park in our Valley was Premier Lake, named after the office of William Smithe who served as Premier from 1883 – 1887. The park was created in 1940. The Purcell Conservancy, founded in 1974 was the first large-scale wilderness area protected as a result of citizen action.
When you attend the Open House make sure you take time to look at the new signboard at the back of the museum, overlooking Athalmer. Erected this past fall, the board is in memory of Shelagh Dehart and helps visitors and residents learn a little about Athalmer and the Columbia River, past and present.
Summer will soon be upon us (we hope) and our display theme will be “Toys Alive”. Do you have any toys pre-dating 1960 which you would consider loaning to the museum for the summer? A wind-up car? A special doll? A game? We promise to take good care of them and return them safely when the summer is over. Contact Dorothy (324-2005) Marg (342-9434) or leave a message at the museum (342-9769).
Have you taken a moment to look at the web site for the Windermere Valley Museum at www. windermerevalleymuseum.ca. Karen Brown has been the inspiration and the brains behind the site. She reports that the number of hits is growing daily and she welcomes ideas and suggestions for the site. Thanks Karen!
Finally , did you know that until 1752, in the English ecclesiastical calendar, March was the first month and the legal year commenced on the 25th of March. This month was named from the god Mars and means ‘loud or stormy month’.