SPENCERVILLE, ONT. -- A new exhibit at the Spencerville Mill and Museum takes a look back over the course of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, showcasing items and pictures donated by the community.
Dubbed 'The COVID-19 Challenge - History in the Making', it shows how the community experienced the pandemic over the past year.
"We just put out an appeal for pictures, artifacts, and the community responded," said Tim East, chair of the Spencerville Mill Foundation. "(They) gave us pictures of drive-by birthday parties, they wrote stories about their experiences and how they passed time during the lockdown."
Artwork adorns the walls on the upper floor of the historic mill, along with displays of oversized masks and even a hands-on display in the centre of the room.
"People can come in and build a sculpture with all the boxes here that are from the things that we ordered online the past year," East said with a chuckle.
"We've got an exhibit on some of the games, like jigsaw puzzles. I probably haven't completed a jigsaw puzzle since I was a kid," laughed mill foundation vice-chair Brian Purcell.
He says people found new hobbies over the past 17 months and reconnected with old ones.
"People had the time to do things they set by the wayside when they were too busy doing regular things," Purcell said.
One display shows a wedding couple's attire along with wedding favours.
"It was going to be a large wedding with an 80 by 100 tent or something that they had booked," Purcell said. "They sort of adapted to what they had available with people that did some cooking and personalized meals."
"(The bride) said the suit that the groom wore in the wedding sort of got changed because he waited and didn't have a place to buy a suit," he added. "The wedding dress was made by her mother, which maybe wouldn't have happened before."
Even with COVID fatigue setting in for most, Purcell says the exhibit has been a success.
"We're not talking about COVID-19 and vaccine rates and how many people have it and who's in the ICU and all that," Purcell said, "It's more of a reflection rather than a worry about it right now."
According to East, this past year has been history in the making.
"As Spencerville's de facto historical society, of course we talk about things that happen in the 1800s but it's also our job to talk about recent history as well," East said. "It's really important for people to remember their local history."
East said the museum reached out to residents and businesses in a 30-kilometre radius, with many responding by dropping off pictures and artifacts such as knitted items and pottery.
"The response has been pretty strong," East said. "We spend so much time thinking about the greater picture of COVID, and what happened on a national and maybe a provincial level. Local history, we tend to forget about sometimes, so I think it's important for people to come in and say, 'Oh, yes, remember when we really couldn't stand that closely?' and 'Oh, yeah, there's a puzzle we put together.'"
Purcell added that it's an exhibit that is relevant now and will be again in the future.
"I think it's something that will come back in years forward," he said. "People that are probably under five today maybe don't remember what they did in COVID and a few years down the road it will be a gentle reminder."
The exhibit runs until Oct. 3 and admission to the museum is free for 2021.
The museum is open seven days a week until Labour Day, after which it will only be open on weekends.
"It's a big, big, variety," added Purcell. "When you come see it once you have to come back to see what you missed."
