While We Are In Hibernation

In mid-March, the Museum board of trustees made the decision to close the facility to visitors effective immediately. Like the rest of the world, we hope this health crisis comes to a swift end but we understand it is imperative that we too do our part to #flattenthecurve.

However, closing to the public does not mean the team will be twiddling their thumbs when there is a long list of projects to tackle.  Complementing the exterior coat of paint our home was given a few months ago, we’re going to take time to spiff the interior up as well. New paint and new lighting in the hall will brighten things up a bit. Our curators will also be constructing a series of new displays based on recent acquisitions from the George Proctor and Bob Lenon collections. They’ve even acquired a few mysterious and/or scary things that were once used by Doc Mock. Yes, there will be a new look on the inside of the museum when the doors re-open.

In addition, we’re going to start work on an exterior project that has been a vision for the past few years. We received permission from the Patagonia school district (our landlord) to install an ADA ramp on the back of the building a year ago. Since then, we’ve been raising funds for that effort in the hopes that the project would be completed in the next few years.
Thanks to a grant we received the Patagonia Regional Community Fund in November 2019, plus a few generous member donations, we are about 60% of the way towards our goal which meant a new way of accessing the museum seemed realistic for the 2021 timeframe.

That was the plan until the real world intervened. When the board made the decision to close, they also decided the time was right to move ahead with this project so that the museum is ready for ALL our visitors when our doors reopen. There are no real-time photos to share yet but rest assured that the ramp will be practical, sturdy and will look as though the original builders of the schoolhouse in 1914 thought a century ahead.

Stay tuned and stay safe, everyone.

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