Welcome to your weekend highlights! My name is Caryssa Hayward, a summer employee here at the Backus-Page House. This week brings some exceptionally good news, as well as a highly anticipated anniversary event.
There’s a lot of history to be found in this area, thanks to Col. Thomas Talbot in the early 1800s. This weekend – July 17th and 18th – the St. Peter’s church is hosting a celebration for what would be Talbot’s 250th birthday. A variety of sights, demonstrations, and refreshments will be available within the 1812 military encampment setup, all with the proper Covid-19 restrictions in place to ensure the safety of all involved. Additionally, there will be a graveside toast in honour of the man himself at 2pm on both Saturday and Sunday. In case any of you missed it, here’s the promotional poster which contains the times and address for the church.
On the topic of Covid-19 restrictions, I’m sure you’ve all heard the good news: On July 16th, the province is moving into Step 3 of their reopening plan! This means that A) more people can gather at the Talbot 250 event in celebration and B) more things to do outside of our homes. One of those things could be visiting the museum!
That’s right, under the new restrictions, the museum is allowed to open again to the public! While masks and social distancing are still mandatory, we are allowed to have 50% of our usual crowd inside and 75% outside for tours. It’s important to note, though, that we aren’t open until July 20th thanks to our promise of being present at the Talbot 250 event. After that, we are open to the community from 11-4pm Tuesdays through Sundays where we have two new exhibits for viewing: a Col. Talbot room and an “Out of the Storeroom” exhibit! Pre-booking and paying for tours is preferred, at $5 per person. You can book at www.backuspagehouse.ca/visit-us/ or see us in the Carriage house!
Each week brings new events to this community, and I hope to share as many of them with you as I can. Hope to see you guys this weekend at St. Peter’s church and at Backus-Page house later in the week!