Exhibitions

Temporary Exhibit (Fall 2020):

Orellana and the Starkell Canoe Expedition

 
Forty years ago, Don Starkell and his teenage sons, Dana and Jeff, set out on a record-setting canoe trip, paddling nearly 20,000 km from Winnipeg to Brazil (as documented in his book, Paddle to the Amazon)!
 
 
To recognize the 40th anniversary of this trip, Starkells’ canoe, the Orellana, has been brought out from storage and is currently on display in the museum. Scarred from use and covered with stickers collected on their harrowing adventures, this canoe tells a visual story of their journey.
 

Just Add Water;

Little Boats with BIG Stories

The canoe museum’s latest exhibit highlights the breadth of the collection. Featuring never before exhibited artifacts, it feels like a behind-the-scenes tour.

See a Fijian Takia, Robert Bateman’s beloved Minto canoe, a variety of paddles from around the world, portaging photo booth and Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘canary yellow canoe’ and more while discovering the stories that make these artifacts stand out in a collection of over 600 watercraft.

This exhibit is included with regular admission!

Artisan and Industry

Artisan and Industry: Canoe Making in the Age of Manufacturing explores the blossoming popularity of recreational canoeing in the 19th and early 20thcentury and the local technical innovations that supported large-scale production to equip these demands worldwide. Many of the artifacts included have never been exhibited before, including several unique examples of watercraft. The exhibit features an extremely rare, loaned collection of quarter-scale canoe models produced by manufacturing companies, patterns and builders’ tools that date back more than a century, and a rich assortment of archival material and small artifacts that relate to the business of canoe making. Visitors will find some fresh, immersive experiences that include an early canoe builder’s workshop, the pageantry of a canoe regatta in 1910, and the emerging world of early advertisement and graphic design.

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