HUMBOLDT — While there’s a flurry of activity to prepare the Humboldt and District Museum and Gallery for reopening, they won’t be ready to open the first day they are legally able.
The provincial government announced June 23 that museums and galleries can reopen on Monday, June 29.
“We were very excited, of course, to see that we were part of the Reopen Saskatchewan plan,” said Jennifer Fitzpatrick, Humboldt’s cultural services director.
She said the museum and gallery has to recall any permanent staff that were temporarily laid off and hire summer students.
Within the museum, the staff has to clean and take measures to ensure its guests are social distancing as required by the provincial government.
“We’re evaluating the exhibits and any high touch areas or interactive areas,” Fitzpatrick said, adding they will have to be removed while the museum determines if it can come up with a different way for the community to engage with them.
There’s also work to be done at the gallery.
“The big thing that we need to do there is we need to install our summer show,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re in contact with those artists to see how quickly we can get that art into Humboldt and get that show up.”
The water tower will also be reopened once that’s been cleaned up and prepared.
Fitzpatrick said the goal is to reopen everything by early July. As soon as a reopening date is set, it will be announced on the City of Humboldt’s website.
