An exhibit celebrating how Timmins was built is open to the public.
Where We Stand, Stories of the Land is the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre's new permanent exhibit. After years of research, it opened to the public this week.
The exhibit celebrates a cross-section of how the community was built, from industry to sports, cultural groups, and more. It even features a virtual reality component allowing people to trek through an underground mine in 1912.
Exhibit researcher and curator Kaitlyn Dubeau spent two years putting it together.
From about 500 pages of written research, she squeezed the diverse local history into the space.
“Trying to include everybody and telling our whole story as best I can was really challenging," she said.
"I feel like I included everybody, at least to my best, and I think that there is something here for everyone. Whether you’re into sports or not, I still think the sports section is the coolest. Hopefully everyone can walk away learning something new or at least finding something that they thought was particularly exciting or interesting."
Even though the exhibit is permanent, Dubeau said there are ways to constantly develop the space.
“We have a lot of interactive components like the iPads that we can constantly be adding and changing the content to put new stories or new pictures or new videos,” she said. “We can switch out artifacts, we’ve kept it pretty flexible so that we can do that.”
The official opening for museum members and stakeholders was Feb. 25.
This weekend, a family fun day is planned for the public to check it out.
Saturday, Feb. 29 there will be an interactive scavenger hunt, cupcakes and more at the museum from noon to 5 p.m.
You can stop by any time to check it out. The museum is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.