- the OTF has provided the local museum with $154k for
upgrades in the past two-years -
by Sylene Argent
Since 1984, past and present members of the Maidstone and Area Historical Society have striven to preserve and promote local history, and they do so throughout the year by hosting events, welcoming the community into the Maidstone Bicentennial Museum to learn from informative displays, and caring for countless significant items and artifacts.
Putting in the time and dedication to maintain a museum is just half the battle, the other is obtaining funding to carry out all of those significant tasks that benefit the community now and into the future.
On Saturday, members of the Maidstone and Area Historical Society celebrated having received a $34,000 Resilient Communities Fund grant through the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) earlier this year.
The funding allowed the Museum to build a small barn and cement pad, in addition to providing electrical, lighting, insulation, and panelling. The new barn creates additional space for the exhibit of the Maidstone Bicentennial Museum’s agricultural artifacts.
This new space will also allow for better quality programming.
The grant that allowed for the addition of the barn came just after the Maidstone Bicentennial Museum was successful in receiving a $120,100 Ontario Trillium Grant in 2019, which allowed for an addition and a new pavilion off the back of the Museum.
Combined, the Ontario Trillium Foundation has committed $154,000 to the Maidstone Bicentennial Museum over the past few years, and Curator Victoria Beaulieu could not be more appreciative for the financial assistance.
The Barn, Beaulieu said, “was so needed. There were so many artifacts we could not put out. This makes us more sustainable. It is a blessing to be able to get it.”
MPP Anthony Leardi said he was pleased to attend the event and celebrate local history.
“You should be proud of what you’ve done,” Leardi said to the members of the Maidstone and Area Historical Society, adding he was proud to help support the Museum through the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain said he knows how hard volunteers at the Museum work to keep it going.
As a former educator, he said it is great to get students onsite at the Museum get a hands-on history lesson and see the students learning.
Beaulieu thanked the province and the Ontario Trillium Foundation for the grant, which is helping the Museum in continuing to keep the stories of the area’s rich history well-known and alive.
“It is necessary to keep educating children, and all ages, about how rich of a history Essex County has,” she said, adding the mission of the Maidstone and Area Historical Society is to safekeep artifacts, continue educating the community about local history, and be conservation-minded. That includes caring for and maintaining its Native Heritage Gardens, which is home to many native plants, trees, and shrubs, and also to the pollinators that depend on them.
As an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations, last year, the OTF invested nearly $209M into 2042 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario’s Community Building Fund.