The Living Prairies Museum marked its 50th anniversary today with a look back at the museum’s rich history and a look forward into its future, as the city and the province provide funding to make the museum more accessible.
“The fact that we are into five decades here is really indicative of the love and care that people have for the Living Prairie Museum,” said Mayor Gillingham.
The 13-hectare living prairie site is one of the last remaining tall grass prairies in North America.
It was designated a park in 1974 and officially became the Living Prairie Museum in 1976 with the opening of an interpretive centre.
“This museum plays such an important role in telling that story on both preserving the tall grass prairie, but also sharing this message with young people like we can see today,” said Mike Moyes, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Living Prairies Museum celebrates 50th anniversary with launch of revitalization project. (Cliff Simpson, CityNews)
The Prairie for Everyone project launched to make sure the museum is more accessible.
The City of Winnipeg dedicated $57,000 through both capital dollars and funding from the land dedication reserve fund.
Province of Manitoba provided $56,000 through the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy’s conservation trust, with an additional $18,000 contributed by Trails Manitoba and Friends of the Living Prairie Museum.
“It’s been really exciting. It is an initiative we’ve been thinking about for a few years, so we were able to bring together a bunch of funding sources to put in a whole bunch of new accessible and inclusive things, so hopefully more people can come and visit,” said Marika Olynyk, the curator of Living Prairie Museum.
The upgrades include a new accessible path that can be accessed by visitors with wheelchairs, walkers, and strollers, new multilingual interpretive signage, an expansion to the medicine garden, and more
Organizers expect to finish most of the work this fall, with some work to continue into the next spring.
“It gives us a chance to reach out to new communities. To offer space for more people to come, more diverse people to come and visit the prairie,” said Olynyk.
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