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Galt Museum Starting From Scratch as Fort Whoop Up Operators

Mar 3, 2016 | 2:01 PM

LETHBRIDGE: Fort Whoop Up will open this season…but it is unclear when.

The Galt Museum received the keys to the historic site Monday after being named the new operator by the City last month.

500 “objects” have been left behind after the Fort Whoop Up Interpretive Society removed the majority of the estimated 10,000 artifacts at the historic site.

The Museum is taking over following 42 years under the Interpretive Society.

Museum CEO and Executive Director Susan Burrows – Johnson agrees they are starting from scratch.

“So the staff are excited to be able pull the data, pull the data and get ready. There are some unknowns yet. We need to replace stoves for example and we’re not sure how hard those are to get. So there are some pieces we are going to be working through to get ready to open.”

Burrows – Johnson says they are meeting with members of the Blackfoot community Thursday to begin their official plan for the site and adds they intend to offer an interpretive centre.

“As you know the Galt Museum, is a different kind of place [than the Interpretive Society]. It’s a museum and archives. So when we say ‘it’s going to be an interpretive centre’ it will have a different tone to it.”

She adds people will be able to tour around at their leisure, listen to stories, try crafts and different aspects of the period that we’re going to tell the story about, which will be something else determined with the Blackfoot members.

The Galt Museum has reached out to the former operators to see if there can be some sort of relationship between the two but explains the ball is now in their court.

Burrows – Johnson went onto say they are eager to start operations as they have 270 volunteers signed up.

However, she could not confirm when the historic site will open but said they are aiming for a date in June or July.