Image: M. Vanden Bosch / PML / Atchelitz Threshermen's Association volunteer Donna Wurst and her fellow volunteers are eager to welcome back visitors to the museum at this weekend's Chilliwack Fair.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack Museum

Museum volunteers eager to welcome crowds back this weekend at Chilliwack Fair

Aug 3, 2022 | 10:55 AM

CHILLIWACK — Atchelitz Threshermen’s Association treasurer and longtime volunteer Donna Wurst would love nothing more than to see families and seniors filling the grounds of the museum, chapel, general store and other historic attractions this weekend when the Chilliwack Fair celebrates its 150th anniversary.

Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to gather at Chilliwack Heritage Park, the big red barn, for this weekend’s festivities spanning Friday through Sunday.

While vendors and fair staff get ready for the big event this weekend, Wurst and her fellow volunteers with the association are prepping for what they hope is a decent turnout to the museum and related buildings just steps away from the fair.

“We’re trying to make everything presentable,” said Wurst, a volunteer since 2005. “We want everyone to come check us out and come back. Chilliwack doesn’t know we’re here. We can’t put signs along the freeway letting people know we’re here.”

Visitors are invited to check out model trains racing around the track, as well as the antiques gracing the shelves and walls of the general stores, the historic chapel, and a display of John Deere tractors out in the fields between museum buildings. For example, the historic chapel that seats up to 40 people will have a Sunday morning church service at 10 a.m.

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People can go back in time to see what a vintage convenience store might have looked like a century ago.

“The general store has items that have been all donated,” Wurst said. “People didn’t want these things going to the garbage. It takes a certain amount of tidying in the general store.”

Their concession stand will be open to sell breakfast, lunch and dessert items all three days, including their signature ice cream that draws droves of seniors. All proceeds go right back into the association’s goal of collecting, restoring, preserving, operating, and exhibiting steam and gasoline stationary engines, steam and gas tractors, and machinery used for farming as well as the continued maintenance of a working farm museum.

“There’s a place for people to sit under shade after they’ve gotten their food,” Wurst said. “The food is reasonably priced. So many seniors come here for a dish of ice cream or an ice cream cone. People enjoy the calm down here away from the fair.”

The museum grounds feature historic memorabilia that are largely hidden from the public. For example, the larger Pioneer Building contains a horse-drawn hearse from 1907, and a motorized 1926 Hudson hearse. Other antiques include a dazzling 1928 Pontiac Model 8820 and a well-maintained 1947 Studebaker 2-door coupe.

Image: M. Vanden Bosch / PML / This 1928 Pontiac Model 8820 is among the vintage vehicles visitors can appreciate at the museum at this weekend’s Chilliwack Fair.

There’s even a mammoth marine steam engine inside the Canora building that runs on electricity and will be operating this weekend. It was transported from Vancouver to Chilliwack in the 1980s; its voyage is documented through pictures on a nearby wall.

Other highlights include a re-enactment of war-time recruiting stations at the vintage city hall building, or a mini-parade through museum grounds at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday morning. The Fraser Valley Antique Tractor Pullers will have a free demonstration in the fields just behind the association’s property.

The museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Friday, Saturday and Sunday for all to enjoy. Bring your lunch to the museum grounds and enjoy sitting underneath the shaded gazebo with ample seating space, while you experience Chilliwack’s rich history.