A small group gathered in the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center's lobby on Wednesday to mark the beginning of a new chapter in local historic preservation. A giant pair of scissors were brought out to snip a ribbon for the reopening of a new museum space.
The small museum inside Kenai’s Visitor Center has been closed since the fall to allow for a total makeover of its historic displays. The cultural center has had the same exhibit on view since it first opened in 1991.
“I don’t think that we were necessarily getting field trips anymore, and things like that, because if you have the same exhibit for 30 years, then you’re not going to see the same amount of people coming through because they’ve already seen it,” said Kenai Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Samantha Springer, who says updating the museum has been on her radar since first taking her role nearly two years ago.
“We even would hear that with tourists that have been back like five years later, and they’re like ‘Oh, it’s the same,’” Springer added.
Danielle Lopez-Stamm was hired as the cultural center coordinator to lead the revamp. She has a background in anthropology and studied Alaska Native artifacts in college.
Lopez-Stamm says the museum has about 4,000 artifacts at its disposal. And more than 100 currently on view had never been displayed before the museum reopened.
“Basically, we’re just trying to get artifacts out of storage," Lopez-Stamm said. "They’ve been in storage for decades at this point and have not been seen by the public. We want to get the area involved and excited about what we have here.”
The artifacts will be displayed in monthly, rotating exhibits. This month’s installment highlights the history of Kenai dating back to 8,000 B.C. Next month, it’ll focus on Alaska’s Russian history.
And, the monthly displays will be coupled with a new history-focused lecture series, called The Kenai Chronicles. Lopez-Stamm says the museum will also lead educational children’s activities.
“We don’t want any of this history to get lost, and so by bringing it out and bringing recognition to these different chronological periods, we’re able to highlight the things that have happened in Kenai," Lopez-Stamm said. "Kenai has such a beautiful, rich history, and I want to make sure people are aware of it.”
Springer, with the Chamber, hopes to see an increase in museum visitors following the revamp.
“Not only is this something really important for the locals here in Kenai, but this is actual history of this area that has just been kind of hidden," Springer said. "I love going to museums and to centers like this, so it makes me really proud to have something that I would want to visit if I were going somewhere else.”
The Kenai Chamber’s cultural museum winter hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The museum is free and open to the public.
The museum’s first presentation in its new lecture series will be on Jan. 29 at the chamber.
