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Sitting at a small table at Starbucks, hoping a cappuccino will help illuminate the path, I wonder how in the world all of the stuff the Canoe Museum is working on is going to come together. We are working on a full roster of fall adult artisan workshops, new education programs, new public events, new tour packages, fundraisers, a strategic planning retreat, a new exhibit for the spring, a fall appeal, the Beaver Club Gala and on top of it all, a project bigger than any of this–a partnership with Parks Canada and the full redevelopment and moving of the Museum to the water! How do we do it?? Read the rest of this entry »
Summer camps? What?! I can’t believe the ice is just out now and that I just planted my peas and spinach last night. Everything is so late this spring and as such so is my planning for the summer. This is the first year for me that one of my kids can register for the fabulous (and affordable) Paddling Camps that we offer at the Canoe Museum. Check out the Paddling camp scene on the video below for a taste of what kids are going to be up to this coming summer (and yes, summer is coming)! Register soon, space is limited and there are others out there who also haven’t planned their summer yet!
Everyone who visits the Canadian Canoe Museum has their own favourite canoe, display or absolutely everything left them speechless and unable to choose just one. The Museum is full of hidden gems or as I like to call them nooks and crannies
A view from the top of the staircase…not one picture can capture the entire museum.
I had the great opportunity to spend many a morning and afternoon exploring the galleries during my time here at the Museum. I have to say there isn’t much that doesn’t perk my interest, but there is one spot in particular that holds many a fond memory. Read the rest of this entry »
You are a bit of DIY’er and you like the idea of small boats, boat building, canoe building and maybe kayak building but you aren’t sure where to begin? You like looking at different kinds of boats and seeing how they are made, how they fit together and what tools are needed to make it all work. You are keen to learn directly from the actual woodworkers, builders and artisans? Maybe you aren’t ready to build something yourself yet but you want to know more about the different companies, meet them, talk to them and find out more about the options available to you. You might already have a boat you are proud of and are looking to connect with other people who have a boat like yours or maybe you are keen to make a paddle for your canoe or kayak? The place for you on Saturday June 22nd is the Small Craft Rendezvous at The Canadian Canoe Museum! Read the rest of this entry »
Canoe go fishing? You bet you can. Where? At the Canadian Canoe Museum. Let me tell you a story…
A few years ago, one of our most talented artisans, Beth Stanley, spent many hours making some amazing replicas of fish from each of our Great Lakes. These poor fish hung in humility from their little magnets on a metal pole in our Education Office waiting for a long, long, time looking for a home they could call their own.
THEN.. the exhibit, Canoes To Go was born and they finally found their home in the calm and shallow waters of that very exhibit. Read the rest of this entry »
The Museum is opening its doors to the public this Sunday, January 13th and offering FREE admission! Yes Free! We are open from 12pm to 5pm and we are featuring our annual show of models and miniatures. Our friends, the Peterborough Model Railroaders and the Lindsay & District Model Railroaders will be filling the Education Room with cool model trains for the kids and the young at heart! The Maple Leaf Telegraph club will be here as well as Steve Guthrie and his military models. There will be kids’ crafts, a snack bar, live artisan demonstrations including paddle making, kayak building and birch bark canoe repair. The Museum Store will be open and sales are to be expected (25% off selected apparel and 40% off select giftware and jewelry)! It is going to be a fabulous day and one that you won’t want to miss. See you Sunday. For more information check out www.canoemuseum.ca or call 705-748-9153.
In 1998 with the support of The Hudson’s Bay Company and their History Foundation we were able to recreate a fur trade post inside our Museum. Built about 1876, the timber frame structure stored porvisions at the Hudson’s Bay Company post of Michipicoten on Lake Superior. We felt it was only fitting that our “modern day” trading post offer authentic Hudson’s Bay products to our visitors. From Point Blankets and Throws to T-Shirts and Paddles!
We also offer a wide range of artisan products made from authentic HBC materials. Be sure and check out our hand crafted mittens, mukluk liners and even flasks with their own “blanket” cover!
And just to see how many of our shoppers read our blog’s – if you come to the Store to purchase any of these items by December 31st and mention that you seen them in this blog – we’ll pay the HST!
Happy Shopping! Be sure to check out our Boxing Week specials next week!
About a year ago now, on the 2nd floor of the Museum, a unused corner of space was transformed into an interactive educational puppet theatre. This puppet theatre is one of the many kid-inspired and family-friendly components that makes this Museum a museum that I want to bring my own kids to (and often do, like today for strike day camp)!
Cute and cuddly Folkmanis hand and finger puppets of Canadian creatures that dwell in our forests, fields, lakes, rivers and air, are the backbone of this space and provide kids and adults with their inspiration for the many shows that erupt from behind the puppet theatre’s wall. But these creatures really needed a tapestry to fly, swim and live in…and so we turned to volunteer and artisan, Ipie Van der Veen for help. And take a look at the magic she created–
She has a long history of helping create props for the School programs at the Museum; from creating faux seal skin hides to cover our kayaks in the Kayak Building program to sewing costumes for our Trappers and Traders program. When we asked her to create a backdrop for the puppets in the puppet theatre she jumped on the opportunity!
A little background on Ipie; she is the uber creative force here for all things fabric and before fabric she worked in the woodshop and helped build the Museum’s 36′ birch bark canot du maitre! Her Hudson Bay Company blanket mittens, gun cases and camp vests are on sale in the Museum Store and she co-teaches the HBC blanket coat workshop. To top this off, every Christmas she makes 100’s of HBC blanket coat tree ornaments.
You can find Ipie volunteering in the galleries at the Museum on Mondays and Thursdays
I bet there are a lot of happy parents and grandparents out there this week with the return of school and the subsequent routines that go with it!! I am one of those parents who is sighing with relief. I do love a summer filled with camping, cottages, and family just as much as the next gal, but it is tiring. With the return of the routines, making space for family-time on the weekends is hard. September is a busy month, for sure, but it also likely the nicest month for canoeing in Ontario and hence is a great way to get some family-time in! Here are some ideas to create a few more memorable canoe-related adventures for the family before the first frost.
1. Figure out which weekend works best (quickly before things get scheduled) and head into your nearby park for an easy (don’t work too hard) base camp canoe trip. It is really nice to stay in one place for both nights so you can have a slow morning, sipping a nice cuppa, wearing your wackiest toques! Algonquin or Kawartha Highlands is our go-to place for fall trips as they are close and beautiful and pretty quiet too.
2. Encourage the kids’ teachers to bring them to the Museum for likely the most interesting and fun (and educational but don’t tell the kids) field trip going! Be sure to offer your services as the volunteer for the trip so that you too can learn a few new things. If you need to arm yourself with more information about our school programs check out this School programs link.
3. Come by the Museum for a day of fun that is unlike anything else you can do in Peterborough. The kids will love it (and I can say that honestly as my kids LOVE the place) and you will be happy to not be the ‘entertainers’ for a few hours:) I could go into all of the neat hands-on stuff there is to do but it is becoming a long list so just trust me! Be sure to pack a picnic and eat in our Education Room.
4. Adults, want to hone your own canoeing skills? Want to learn how to solo your canoe? Want to build on your certifications or start the process of getting certified? Wouldn’t it be cool to do that with the Canoe Museum? We can do that for you. Email me, carolyn.hyslop@canoemuseum.ca to find out more. We can do private lessons and we provide all of the equipment too.
5. Not sure about a canoeing course, that’s okay. 
Why not try one of the cool artisan offerings this fall? Finger weaving, paddle carving, moccasin-making…oh my!!
6. Okay here’s a good one! First you have to become a Canadian Canoe Museum Member (easy to do and really really reasonable with all kinds of fantastic perks). Then you can sign up for a Members’ event on Saturday September 22nd. On the 22nd you will get a private tour of our Collection storage area (incredible boats) and then you can hear all about canoe travel in Wabakimi Provincial Park in northwestern Ontario–
Ontario’s second largest provincial park and world’s largest protected wilderness canoeing area. This will kick-start the dreaming/planning for next summer’s big trip. Cool no?
7. Enjoy the changing season!
Over the weekend of August 17th to 19th, The Canadian Canoe Museum became connoisseurs and critics of art at the Buckhorn Fine Art Festival. This year, the Festival’s theme was “Canadian Journeys.” Fittingly, The Canadian Canoe Museum was asked to be their beneficiary. We had a beautiful booth set up, complete with General Manager, John Summer’s orange sailing canoe named “Clementine”! With more than 80 artists displayed, the Festival drew in a large crowd of art-enthusiasts.
At our main booth, we sold merchandise and informed passers-by about the Museum. Our great front line volunteers, Gloria, Sue, and Nan, were great representatives, and managed to sell quite a bit of merchandise! To interact even more with visitors, we had artisans working away on their sewing; Ipie and our summer student, Linda, engaged visitors by linking their tangible sewing creations to the history of voyageurs.
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