By the late 1970s the Museum, located in the Centennial Building, was quickly outgrowing its space and the Museum Society began campaigning for a “New Museum.”
In the midst of the economic recession of the 1980s, an ambitious vision for a new building to house the museum was forged. It was believed that a museum should be much more than a place to view relics from the past and was central to the continuing development of Campbell River. A vibrant new museum would contribute to making the community a desirable place in which to live and work, as well as a place to visit.
It would take over 18 years but in February of 1994, with the opening of a purpose-built museum at 470 Island Highway, the vision became reality.
This story was recently captured by museum staff in a video documentary entitled Vision Becomes Reality: The Making of the Museum at Campbell River. Join Museum Executive Director, Sandra Parrish on Saturday, Oct. 20 for a talk and special screening of this film which chronicles the journey of turning the vision for the Museum at Campbell River into reality. Following the film there will be an opportunity for discussion.
Over the past 60 years, the museum has changed significantly, as has the community as a whole. Museum docents Danny Brown and Norm Lee will be presenting another talk, accompanied by images, called Campbell River: The Last Sixty Years on Nov. 3. Brown and Lee are well known for their animated history talks and have been developing new material for this presentation. This talk will be the final one in the 2018 Diamond Lecture Series that has brought many fascinating and diverse speakers to the Museum at Campbell River.
Vision Becomes Reality will take place on Saturday, Oct. 20 and Campbell River: The Last Sixty Years will take place on Saturday, Nov. 3. The talks are both at 1 p.m. at the Museum at Campbell River and cost $7 per person.
For more information on this talk or on other coming events you can see the museum’s website www.crmuseum.ca, or call 250-287-3103.