The Callander Museum and Alex Dufresne Gallery will soon have one schedule. No more extending summer hours only to resort back to winter times once the leaves begin to change. Instead, the building will be open throughout the year on summer hours – Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Previously, the winter hours ran from September to April, Thursday to Saturday at the same times. This routine has occurred since 2011.
Extending the hours will “further promote the Museum and Gallery as a significant tourist and historical location within the Municipality,” noted curator Natasha Wiatr, in a report to council.
“The increase in hours at the Museum in the Fall and Winter would not have any staffing impacts because there will be enough staff to properly manage the Museum and Gallery at the hours already budgeted for.”
See: Callander’s museum is digitizing the past for the future
The Callander Museum was built in 1904, and Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the physician to the Dionne quintuplets, bought the home 10 years later and lived there until his death in 1943. Two other families lived in the home afterwards, but in 1979 the Township purchased the land. On August 8, 1982, the museum was officially opened to the public.
In 1995, the Alex Dufresne Gallery was added to the building, doubling the attraction, a destination “whose popularity continues to grow each year,” Wiatr noted.
“Staying open year-round, the Museum and Gallery will be viewed as being more reliable to guests and will be visited more frequently.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
