The Flin Flon Station Museum is taking the next step in storytelling.
The museum recently received a grant from the Northern Neighbours Foundation for camera equipment, which will allow them to archive their artifacts properly.
“If you don’t know what you have, then it’s sort of like wanting to make something in a kitchen and having no idea of what your ingredients are,” said Tom Heine, chairman of the museum board.
“Without keeping track of what you have in your collection, basically you’ve got a glorified garage sale without prices.”
Heine said volunteers are working two days a week to help archive the photographs in their collection.
“Any artifact is just a prop for the story,” he said.
“You display something, and ‘Oh, that’s nice’ - but what does that have to do with the history of Flin Flon? So it’s that aspect that’s been really missing in the collections catalog of our artifacts and displaying that to the public... Most of our artifacts don’t have a lot of background information. It’s something that we’re trying to address.”
The next exhibit Heine is planning is a display of Main Street from the early days of Flin Flon.
“It was basically it was a swamp,” he said while chuckling.
“But, what the heck, Flin Flon wasn’t going to last forever. There’s a mindset there. It’s a mining town. So it’s going to be temporary.”
Heine said Flin Flon in those days was isolated and developed its own culture and traditions.
“In the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s we kind of had to make our own fun, and in a way we establish our own society,” he said.
“We’re Flin Flonners. We’re not Canadians, we’re not Manitobans: we’re Flin Flonners.”
Despite that isolation from the rest of the country, Heine said preserving Flin Flon’s history is important for all Canadians.
“We were an isolated mining community,” he said, “and there were a few of those around in Canada, but for the most part, they’re not very common. That history is an integral part of Canadian history.”
The Flin Flon Station Museum will open for free on July 1 for the Trout Festival. The museum will also have free entrance for music fans on Aug. 11 during the Blueberry Jam Musical Gathering and on Sept. 29 for Culture Days.
Heine said the museum is still waiting on their Manitoba Star Attraction sign and are planning a big event when they finally receive it.
The museum is also planning on creating a Facebook page so members of the public can keep track of the different events going on during the summer.
