St. Marys Museum to mix holidays with history at upcoming open house

Emily Taylor, curator assistant at the St. Marys Museum.

By Alex Hunt

The St. Marys Museum is inviting locals for festive treats and valuable gift ideas at next month’s annual open house. 

On Dec. 7 from 2-4 p.m., locals will have the opportunity to explore the museum’s offered activities at a drop-in holiday open house. A scavenger hunt and a craft station will be provided for the kids, while adults can place bids at the silent auction, win door prizes and enjoy holiday treats. 

Curator assistant Emily Taylor said a certificate for a private ghost tour with Stratford Walking Tours will be featured at a value of $128. The museum is currently accepting donations for the auction. 

Historical publications will be available at the museum’s gift shop, along with details on purchasing a Friends of the Museum membership. 

“We like to think of this open house as a complementary event to the other holiday programming happening in the community,” said Taylor. “This has been a long-running program that the museum has been doing, and we think it’s important to have this on a weekend so people can come while they’re off work.”

The “Capturing Christmas” exhibit will be on display during the open house, showcasing past photographs of community holiday celebrations. 

“It’s important to celebrate the season and bring people together,” said Taylor. “Many in the community feel it’s just as important to honour the history of St. Marys, to learn, teach and engage others in our past.”

Along with participating in holiday activities, locals will also have an opportunity to explore current exhibits and the museum’s Victorian-style school room, used for educational programming and mock school lessons that were taught during the era.

The open house will allow locals to voice their interests on what they would like to see included in the museum’s future programming. Taylor said that the museum is interested in running a survey for the new year to analyze what locals would like to see featured in the 2026 program schedule.