Wellington County will be given an exclusive look at the Hockey Hall of Fame over the Family Day weekend.
A travelling hall of fame exhibit will be making a stop at the Wellington County Museum and Archives for the first time ever from Feb. 18 to 22.
“They haven’t had an exhibit in [Guelph] since they hosted the Memorial Cup … in 2002,” explained museum activity programmer Libby Walker. “So it should be pretty fun.”
The idea to bring the Hockey Hall of Fame to the museum began in 2015 when the museum decided it wanted to promote hockey players within Wellington County and the goal was to have the Hockey Hall of Fame on exhibit over Family Day.
“We wanted to really make it a spectacle, something really big and fun … and then we just built the weekend around the Family Day event and we were fortunate enough that it fit into the Hockey Hall of Fame travelling exhibit schedule,” Walker said.
Visitors can expect to see three original NHL trophies as well as over 200 items falling under various themes: the original six teams, NHL today, Team Canada, origins, goalies, young stars and Stanley Cup winners.
“I think it’s just going to be a great opportunity to really be proud of our Sports history and our hockey players here in Wellington County,” Walker said.
“I think it will be really interesting and I think it will really make people proud of where they come from.”
There will also be five skill-testing games set up:
– top shot electronic hockey net;
– hardest shot radar;
– mini hockey rink zone;
– goalie challenge; and
– bubble hockey.
Over the Family Day weekend the museum will be open from 10am to 4pm.
Depending on the weather there will also be skating and tobogganing outside, as well as a fire pit to roast marshmallows.
The Hall of Fame exhibit will also be open the following Tuesday and Wednesday.
“This exhibit is leading off into a Sports in Wellington County exhibit and during the five days we’re also going to showcase hockey players from the county,” Walker said.
The County Sports Champions exhibit will feature hockey, basketball, baseball, swimming and curling, Libby explained.
It will replace the Winter in Red and White exhibit on now and will run for a total of six weeks after the Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit leaves on Feb. 22.
The hall of fame exhibit is also the museum’s kick-off into Canada 150 celebrations. The museum will also offer a Treasures of Wellington County exhibit, for which local historical groups have been asked to submit artifacts that say something special about their history. The exhibit will be on display from June into July.
The museum will also use funding from the Wellington County planning committee to open a trail across the road from the main building that will coordinate its trail system through the cemetery down to the river and across two historic archeological sites, including a lime kiln and a water reservoir, Walker said.
“It’s going to be a big year,” she said. “We have a lot going on.”
Admission to Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit will be $5 per person or $20 for a family of up to six people per day. Families that would like to return for more than one day can purchase a pass to enter the exhibit for the entirety of its stay for $40.
