The Muskoka Heritage Place in Huntsville will reopen June 15th.
The site normally opens on Victoria Day weekend, but was delayed because of Provincial stay-at-home orders. The grounds will be open to the public, but Muskoka Heritage Place manager Ron Gostlin says that not everything will open at once.
“We will not have our museums due to the regulations, they can open in step three,” says Gostlin. “Our Pioneer Village and our train will be operating, as we did last year, with COVID restrictions in place. We’ll have limited seating on the train to provide spacing for people distancing.”
Gostlin says that face coverings will be required indoors, but not while outside on the 35-acre lot. Visitors will need to check in online before coming to the site, to prevent crowding in the admissions area. He also says a “visitor ambassador” has been hired to manage the flow of visitors and direct people to attractions. Most on-site activities will run normally, with some modifications for COVID safety, according to Gostlin.
“Our activities are not limited, but how we do them is a little different so that people can keep distance from each other,” says Gostlin. “We’ve eliminated all hands-on activities, it’s more of a demonstration. There are some takeaways like candle-making, where the visitors will make their candles and they can take them with them, so they’re the only ones touching them.”
Information and registration can be found on the Muskoka Heritage Place website.