The New Trading Post

With the renovation of the visitor centre at the Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site we were to get a new space for the gift shop. The old one had been cramped in a corner so this was a welcome development.

Parks Canada had a colour scheme with various historic looking browns, tans, greens and blues. The project manager attended one of our meetings with an armful of very large paint chips and after much deliberation and a leap of faith we chose green. After the space was painted it looked sort of - well - green, but we carried on hoping that the colour of the furnishings would lessen the impact.

The next step was ordering some historic looking furnishings. We also wanted pieces that could be moved around to change the look and configuration of the store. We did some fundraising among the local businesses to help with the cost of the furnishings. Some of them, such as the front desk, glass front fridge, freezer and wall cabinetry were included in the Parks Canada renovation costs.

Our new furnishings arrived and we admired,explored,and assembled pieces.

Then a glich. The slat board for the walls was damaged when it arrived and had to be replaced.

Our brave summer workers began work in the unfinished mess. They ordered and received store product. They attended training sessions. They spent much time in the play fort practicing the David Thompson Puppet Show. It snowed about eighteen inches in early May so they made a little trail though the snow from the warm visitor centre to the not so warm puppet theatre. They worked overtime one day to help Parks staff complete the varnishing of the front desk and the reception area.

Finally, the slat board arrived and there was a flurry of activity getting the shelving put together and the stock on the shelves in time for opening day. And it looked good!