WATCH: Musée St. Paul Museums open for the season

St. Paul area residents will now have the chance to visit their museums following the Grand Opening for the season on Sunday.

Food, music, and children’s activities were at the forefront for the event at Musée St. Paul Museum, two museums in one.

The Historical Museum celebrated its 40th anniversary, and the People’s Museum is reaching the 20 year mark since inception.

Lise Belliveau is the president of the Musée Historique de St. Paul Historical Museum, breaks down the differences.

“The People’s Museum is a museum that is dedicated mostly to agriculture, rural exhibits, and buildings,” Belliveau told Lakeland Connect. 

“Whereas the St. Paul Historical Museum is dedicated to St. Paul and the region’s history. It starts from 1896 with the Metis colony to its dissolution in 1909, then the pioneers that came here who were mostly Francophone, from 1909 to 1930. And then we have exhibits that change every year.”

“The five ladies that worked in this museum for over 35 years really imparted to me how important it was to have authentic, genuine artifacts in our collection. So, that’s very, very important to us. What we have in our section of the museum are artifacts from local families, and the history is about the local families. That’s what we represent.”

They are open for a visit now seven days a week, from 10:00AM to 4:00PM until Labour Day Weekend. One of the exciting projects underway is the old Willingdon train station from the Shandro Museum, which is currently being renovated.

“We will have some displays in the future on the CPR and the grain elevators. We also have the Ukrainian Museum, the Ukrainian section that is growing all the time. And we have a St. Vincent display.

“One of the things that the Historical Society is doing this year is every year we go to a municipality and try to find the homesteads. We talk to the families, etc. We’ve done St. Edouard, we’ve done St. Vincent, and now we’re going to go to Lafond on July 28th.”

The Museums are also expanding with art pieces, crafts, and gifts that are available for purchase at the front, in a boutique style.

They are also running their summer camp every Thursday with tables in French and some in English, where kids learn to make butter, do tie-dye shirts, and other neat projects. 

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