This image came from the Fanshawe Pioneer Village website. It can be found at: http://fanshawepioneervillage.ca/
As the summer approaches, Fanshawe Pioneer Village is getting ready to re-open. Normally, the Pioneer Village opens the May long weekend, but the pandemic could pose some challenges.
“So, depends on how much time we have available to ourselves between the time that our current stay at home order ends and when we open how big of an opening we will have. So, either we will open as scheduled with buildings open on the May long weekend or we might have to do a little bit of a soft opening where things are scaled back for the first week or two just depends on how much time we have given the current situation,” said Alison Klages, Public Programming Coordinator at the Fanshawe Pioneer Village.
When discussing how the pandemic will impact the programming at the Pioneer Village this year, Klages said that they have made the necessary changes.
“We are generally more hands on, we have made adaptations to our programming in order to allow ourselves to be open as long as possible within the new color frameworks that the government of Ontario has put in place. So, until we get into a situation where London is in the grey or a lockdown situation, the Pioneer Village is able to operate. So, all the way from green through red, we can be welcoming people through our doors as long as they feel comfortable coming.”
She further said that they have made changes to the programs at the Pioneer Village to ensure the safety of their staff, volunteers, and visitors. The changes include things like more online programming, some in-person events being held with a limit on the number of people, and enhanced programming days.
Enhanced programming days will include things like “an arts and leisure day, a trades day, and a food day each week. And then what day of the week that is happening on will switch each week so that people are able to attend based on what their schedule will allow.”
The pandemic has impacted everyone and everything in some way. Klages discussed how the pandemic gave the people at the Pioneer Village time to reflect upon their programming and practices.
“It also has allowed us the opportunity to reflect on what we have been offering on site and really think critically about how we are serving our community, and how we can reach them, and bridge the gap between the past and the present better. So, by offering things like our enhanced days. Maybe those are a better option than some of our longer standing events because we are able to reach more people more consistently using those instead of focusing a lot of effort on a single day,” said Klages. She also said due to the pandemic, they were able to enhance the Wi-Fi as well as think about how the community interprets the village.
But it has also given us time to reflect upon the past and the present. Klages discussed how in the past communities went through similar situations like the one we are currently going through.
“First and foremost, I think its very important for us to fall back on our community and looking towards what we can do for one another to support each other, make sure we are all getting through this in a safe, feasible, viable way, as well as thinking about the choices that we’re making. So, sometimes the choices that we have to make might be hard right now but in the long run they might have very beneficial impact within our society.”
She went on to say that “things like getting a vaccine or wearing a mask- these are things that in other times they did as well because they knew that it was important for their community. They still had concerns about what that might do just like we do now, but they were able to think ‘you know this is something very small that I can do to help those around me.'”
Through the pandemic, people were looking towards more local attractions, activities, and dinning. Moving forward, Klages hopes that people will continue to support one another, their local businesses, charities, and organizations.
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