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By Justin Seward
Commentator/Courier
Irvine’s Prairie Memories Museum opened July 7 and are ready to have visitors come enjoy the historical items offered on the property.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Doug Glock, a museum volunteer since it opened in 1996.
“Last year was hard. We didn’t do anything. We had our employee (Stan Insko) working last summer— he wasn’t working full time—but he would go in and water the lawn and he would do the mowing and he did a few repairs over the season. So, now it’s really nice and we were able to get it going again as it should be and we’d open it sooner, but we didn’t know what the situation was going to be.”
Glock said people are coming around getting out and happy to have something to do.
“I’m glad that we were able to open it again,” said Glock.
“A museum (has) to be open. What’s the use of having one if you can’t open it?”
Museum visitors can experience the old house that Glock’s great grandparents and grandparents resided in and has since been redone. An old log cabin is also on the property that has been fixed up, school house, church, Citizen’s Lumber office building, an original immigration hall—which is the main museum building— and the newer miniature train station building.
“We had three gentlemen that still had some railway memorabilia—they were all former railway employees, one of them being my uncle— and them or their families all donated memorabilia,” said Glock.
Volunteers have gone into maintenance mode to keep the museum viable in Irvine.
“We’re keeping it up,” said Glock.
“We had all our buildings painted here a couple of years ago, so it’s looking really good. Stan’s keeping the yard just fantastic. It’s a nice place. It’s a getaway and to spend a bit of time over there.”
The museum is currently getting estimates on roof repairs to the immigration hall.
Glock anticipates the museum gets around 2,000 people a year.
“It gives our younger generations the opportunity to go have a look and it’s a pretty authentic look at what life was like out here on the Prairies,” said Glock.
Prairie Memories Museum is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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