Making Room For The Past At Cloyne's Pioneer Museum

Jun 27, 2013

In a grand opening celebration on June 22, history buffs from near and far packed the recent addition to Cloyne's Pioneer Museum to help celebrate the official ribbon cutting ceremony there. Guests were invited into the museum's recently completed 1400 square foot addition, which now houses its extensive tool collection along with a number of other recent acquisitions. They include a late 1800s blacksmith’s forge that came from the Vennachar area; a small 100-year-old Findlay stove; and an old safe that belonged to Barrie Township council years ago and was used by Ralph Thompson, a long-time clerk/treasurer there.

Guests leisurely perused the displays in the new space, which boasts overhead track lighting, new pine floors and an extensive photo/art picture gallery. The numerous archival prints and photos in the gallery will be regularly changed on an ongoing basis. The space also contains a new display from the Denbigh area.

Marg Axford, curator and archivist of the museum, said that the addition will help to properly display its wealth of treasures. “The space has really enhanced our existing collection by providing the additional space needed to show it properly. People have been commenting on how they are now noticing items that have been here but that they have never noticed before.” she said. Axford said that the new space will also be used to hold different types of programming at the museum in the form of presentations, workshops and seminars, and she believes that the historical society's board meetings will also be held there in the future.

On hand to bring the authentic sounds of the past to visitors’ ears and hearts were members of the Pickled Chicken String Band, whose repertoire of old-time northern area string tunes added the perfect aural dimension to the celebrations. The event was emceed by young, enthusiastic historian Mike Duchane.

Red Emond, the newly appointed president of the Cloyne and District Historical Society, spoke at the event and thanked the Ontario Trillium Foundation, whose $39,000 grant assisted with the cost of the expansion. He also read two letters of congratulations, one from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and a second from Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Emond also thanked Carolyn McCulloch, who was president of the historical society for six years. Emond said that he hopes that the new space will encourage young folks to “come out and delve into their historic past and see what pioneers and settlers of the past contributed to the area.”

The expansion project was in the works for a year, and Ian Brummel, who headed up the project, also spoke, thanking all who were involved in making it come to fruition.

Following the addresses, long-time member of the historical society, Georgina Hughes, was invited to do the official ribbon cutting, and following that guests were invited to explore and enjoy the new addition, its displays, the music and a BBQ.