Every year Pitt Meadow Museum relies on summer students and youth volunteers to open our two sites five days a week and to run our summer programs and collections projects.
This year we have two great students, both graduates of Pitt Meadows secondary in 2011.
Nikki McLaren is this year’s Government of Canada, HRSDC employee at the museum.
Nikki is currently a student at Capilano University and is studying studio art.
She is also an active member of Girl Guides of Canada and has been a youth volunteer at the Muse for many years.
In her free time, Nikki enjoys sewing, designing T-shirts, and playing the banjo.
This summer she is the organizer of the 2013 Heritage Thursdays for Children program and is excited to welcome kids of the community to join her Thursday afternoons, 1-3 p.m., when we will be exploring “Pastimes from the Past”.
Some highlights include candle dipping, stepping stone mosaics and fashionable bow ties and fascinators (a ’20s style mini hat).
This program is open to children ages 5-10 and pre-registration is encouraged.
Nikki is also involved in much of the daily workings of the General Store site, opening the museum from 1-4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and always has a craft or hands-on activity waiting for you and your family to come and try out.
She invites you to stop by some time this summer and get historical.
If looking for a historical taste of the past this summer, the Pitt Meadows Museum’s Hoffmann and Son site on Harris Road is an excellent place to catch a glimpse of life as a 20th Century machinist, or perhaps even re-invent your inner-inventor.
Donated by Hans and Freida Hoffmann in 1998, the Hoffmann shop is filled with great reminders of a bustling business that once played an integral role in the agricultural development of Greater Vancouver.
Here you can see countless items used by Hans himself or check out the forge and gigantic lathe.
Stop by the shop this summer and you will find our summer museum technician, Nick Pochailo, manning the post.
Nick is the museum’s Government of Canada YCW summer student, and a current business and history student at Simon Fraser University.
His main job consists of a large photo documentation process of Hoffmann site artifacts such as drill bits, engine cranks and various hand tools.
Nick also opens the shop to the public Wednesday to Sunday, 1-4 p.m. and is the guy to talk to about our 100th year anniversary Memory Band project, which is currently in progress at the site.
Busy as he is, Nick is always available to tour you through the site.
Also at the museum, the countdown to 100 continues.
Check in on Aug. 28 to find out what our first council was concerned about accomplishing way back in the spring of 1914, and don’t forget to drop by to pick up or drop off a Memory Band nomination form.
– Leslie Norman is curator at Pitt Meadows Museum.