Working on the notion that “it takes a community to raise a village,” board member Garry Landers says the Salmon Arm Museum and Heritage Association at R.J. Haney Heritage Village is preparing to launch its biggest fund development campaign ever.
And organizers are looking to the community to help build the heart of the village.
The board’s three-year objective is to construct and finish a display of commercial stores and offices on the village’s main street. The building will to be called the Montebello Block, a nod to the defining structure that stood in the heart of Salmon Arm at the corner of Hudson and Alexander for almost 60 years.
This project will create much-needed exhibition space to depict historic businesses at the village. The displays will include a general store, bank, real estate-law office, barber shop, newspaper, clothing emporium, and more.
Tucked away in the inner core of the Montebello Block will be another sorely needed kitchen/banquet room to serve the ever-increasing needs of Haney’s dinner theatre, weddings, and special events staged through the operating season.
Initial design work indicates that over $500,000 is needed in donations, material, and labour.
Heartened by the fact that R.J. Haney Heritage Village and Park has always enjoyed tremendous support from the citizens of Salmon Arm and Shuswap, the Fund Development Committee created the logo ‘It Takes a Community To Raise a Village’ as its slogan for the campaign.
Check out the Montebello Block display at the Mall at Piccadilly during Heritage Week Feb. 17 to 22.
For more information on the project or to make a donation call 250-832-5243, visit our website www.salmonarmmuseum.org or find us on facebook.com/Haneyheritage.