3 April 2009
Grand Opening Set for $65M Expansion
Heritage Park's new Gasoline Alley exhibit, full of cars,
trucks, antique gas pumps,
and advertising signs.
Calgary Alberta - Heritage Park's
long-awaited expansion opens to the public Saturday, a $65-million town square featuring interactive
galleries, shops, and a restaurant aiming to bring back western Canadian history with a hands-on flair.
Visitors are invited to the noon grand opening, with an opportunity to check out the expansion's marquee feature, a new Gasoline Alley
museum boasting 15 galleries over 75,000 square feet, 30 vintage cars from the 1920s and '30s, 37 vehicles defining more recent
decades, and one of the country's foremost antique air pump collections.
"This is a fabulous hands-on exhibit, a beautiful collection of automobiles and oil and gas memorabilia," said
Janelle Morris, communications specialist at Heritage Park. "It tells the story of the introduction of the automobile, and the
impact it had socially," said Morris.
A museum favourite is expected to be an interactive drive-in movie theatre, celebrating a Calgary of the 1950s, when the
city boasted seven drive-in theatres.
Families can climb into cars, watch movies previewed by the classic dancing hotdogs, and listen to audio of families from the 1950s
conversing about the day's film.
A 1929 service station will be a cornerstone of the museum, including tow trucks and a disassembled Model T Ford that can be
manipulated by visitors wanting to see how the pistons work.
As well, the Big Rock Interpretive Brewery will open as a self-guided tour inside the museum, with a capability of
brewing up to 50 litres of beer, telling the story of what makes Alberta famous for its brew.
And the new Selkirk Grille, a mission-style 1920s restaurant, will front the museum, serving lunch and dinner.
The $8-million Haskayne Mercantile Block has been open since mid-November, housing five vintage boutiques
including a bakery, antique shop, and portrait studio.
And the final leg of the expansion, the Canadian Pacific Railway Station, will open 16 May 2009, along with the existing
historical village on the Glenmore Reservoir.
The station is modelled after downtown Calgary's original Palliser Station, built in 1893.
It will include a self-directed orientation program in a sitting room for visitors awaiting the new relocated trolley to
take them into the main village.
"The whole expansion will keep history alive, fresh, and relevant for new generations.
It will bring them back to the 1930s, let them connect to their rural roots, and know about their past,"Morris said. "Sir
Winston Churchill once said, the further backwards you look, the further forward you're likely to see."
A preview opening will be held today honouring major donors to the fundraising campaign, including Dick Haskayne and the McCaig
family, along with Heritage Park officials, and representatives from all three levels of government.
Officials with Heritage Park say the $65-million project was completed on target, with $35.6 million in grants from all
three levels of government, and the remaining amount from corporate sponsors, charitable foundations, and individual donors.
Eva Ferguson.
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