A staple in St. James prairie life celebrated a special anniversary, decades in the making. “50 years is quite the milestone,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham at the Living Prairie Museum on Saturday. “Not every organization or entity makes it to 50 years. The fact that we’re into five decades here is really indicative of the love and care that people have for the Living Prairie Museum. The near 35 acre site is one of the last remaining tall grass prairies in North America. Originally designated a park in 1974, it officially became the Living Prairie Museum in 1976 when their interpretive centre opened to the public. On Saturday, city officials marked the museum’s 50th anniversary with the announcement of a revitalization project honoring the site’s history while looking towards the future. Called ‘The Prairie for Everyone’ project, work is underway towards new multilingual interpretive signage and new seating around the interpretive centre. Staff said welcoming everyone to the museum is key with these enhancements. “We have a new accessible pathway that’s starting to work its way around the building,” said Marika Olynyk, curator at the museum. “That’s going to allow wheelchair users, walker users, stroller users the opportunity to get up close and personal with the prairie. The people who can’t necessarily go on the existing trails.” In addition, an upgraded gate connecting the museum site to the Yellow Ribbon Trail, an expansion to the medicine garden and new learning gardens next to the interpretive centre are also in the works. More than 150 species of wildflowers and prairie grasses can be found on site. Work for the project was funded by the City of Winnipeg with both capital dollars and funding from the Land Dedication Reserve Fund. Further contributions were made by grants including a $15,000 contribution from Trails Manitoba and $56,000 from the Province of Manitoba through the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy’s Conservation Trust. Olynyk said they are hopeful to have museum improvements complete by this fall.
