Cupar Museum activities 2020

The Cupar museum is open on a seasonal basis but last March we officially closed to the public and remain so until further notice due to Covid. As many of you know this meant no programs, social activities and school and senior tours. This does not mean our members have not been active behind the scenes. This year was the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the museum. So hopefully our exhibit which Wes Bailey has been working on will be 25 years plus. Meanwhile I went about the town taking photos of existing businesses that could be incorporated into an exhibit or photo album. Linda Adam and I put together 2 small photo exhibits around town. One on the history of our pharmacy and the other housed at Cupar Foods about the history of building beside the store which is now a park. Kathy Weisbrod (daughter of Ernie and Alma) wrote up a 5 page article gleaned from minutes on the efforts to start a museum and all the support from individuals and groups in the town. It is posted on the museum blogspot as are the 2 displays from the pharmacy and Cupar foods. We are fortunate that some of our fundraising continues. We continue to collect bottle returns and our vehicle storage is always full thanks to Jim Adam who is always on call to move and rearrange the vehicles. We also are thankful for the support of town council for their community grant and the continued support of SaskCulture. Unfortunately we did not receive money from the federal government to hire a summer student. We were thankful however for the town's assistance in providing several of the summer student workers who mowed the lawn, and removed railway ties from our farm equipment area. I personally would like to thank Emma Gebhart who stained the deck, urethaned parts of the floor in the main museum and repainted exhibit and storage walkway area. We were also able to do critical maintenance. Tim Polasek was hired to repair the leaking lean to roof and we were able hire Sheldon Gibson (Hired Hand) to put crusher dust on the driveway and parking area. This will make it much easier to push wheelchairs from the street. We continue to receive artifact donations including more items for our pharmacy display from George and Carol Stuart. We have also been able to assist with research requests. One on a family history book requesting photos of early elevator shots. When completed the museum will receive a copy. Another came from Holland requesting information on Stanley Tenklei who died in WWII and is buried at the Holten Cemetery in Holland. We were able to send photos and newspaper articles. This is thanks to an earlier photo album donation from Bob and Donna Turner. We were also able to hold a socially distanced Annual Meeting in September at the Lion's Den. We have donated $200 to them for their assistance in the use of their facilities on several occasions. Although at times it appears nothing is happening we are working behind the scenes on various projects and hope to welcome everyone back come next summer. If you are interested in serving on the board or volunteering in any area that inteests you we would love to hear from you. Submited by: Elaine Pain. Museum secretary.

Cupar circa 1908-1910