Another year has come to a close! 2024 has been a year of exciting growth and meaningful achievements for the Museum. Participation in our programs has soared, with Summer Seekers and March Break programs seeing increases of 51% and 47%, respectively, compared to 2023. Education programs, including school groups, seniors, and youth groups, grew by an impressive 56%. Adult workshops saw a remarkable 200% increase, reflecting the community’s growing engagement with the Museum.
Behind the scenes, the Museum’s Collections Working Group (CWG) made significant strides, reviewing 609 objects and continuing to build relationships with donors to preserve the history of our community. We’re excited to continue improving access to our collections through the new digitization station and the Archiving Goulbourn initiative in 2025.
Happy Holidays! See you in the New Year!
What a Magical Old-Fashioned Christmas!
(Photos by Barry Gray)
We were thrilled to welcome over 1,500 visitors to this year’s Old-Fashioned Christmas! Families lined up to meet Santa, children wrote 201 heartfelt letters to the big guy, and hot chocolate flowed in abundance! Demand was so great that we ran out of cookies and if it wasn’t for an emergency run to the store in the afternoon, we would have run out of marshmallows too! A huge thank you to everyone who attended, and to the incredible volunteers (many of whom are pictured here with Santa) and generous donors who made this event a resounding success. We couldn’t have done it without you! Click here for more Magical Memories!
Thank You to our Raffle & Event Donors!
(A visitor gets measured for an arm’s length of raffle tickets.)
The following donors generously gifted the Museum everything from hot chocolate and marshmallows to an incredible array of raffle prizes! With their support, we raised nearly $3,000 through raffle sales and donations during the Old-Fashioned Christmas event!
Brown’s Your Independent Grocer
Bytown Museum
Canadian Museum of History
Canadian War Museum
Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum
Ingenium
John Sweetnam
King’s Your Independent Grocer
Mississippi Valley Textile MuseumMuséoparc Vanier
Osgoode Township Museum
Ottawa Senators Foundation
Perth Museum
Phil Sweetnam
Tim Horton’s Stittsville
Upper Canada Village
Watson’s Mill & Dickinson House
Wildpine Residence
Meet the Newest Addition to our Team!
Please join us in welcoming our new Education and Visitor Services Officer, Alyssa Gutoskie! Alyssa will be the friendly face greeting you when you visit the Museum. She is also responsible for developing, delivering, and facilitating engaging educational programs! Alyssa has a passion for nature, art, and photography, with experience both behind the camera and in front of it! Read her FULL BIO.
Museum Hours During the Holidays
The Museum and administrative offices will be closed from December 22, 2024, to January 5, 2025. Office hours will resume on Monday, January 6, and regular Museum hours will resume on Friday, January 10.
Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a wonderful New Year! Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you in 2025.
