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EDITORIAL

Curling Museum needs a home

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Weyburns other museum treasure, the Don Turner Curling Museum, may now end up relegated to a new home attached to the Tom Zandee Sports Arena, as part of the extensive renovations and construction going on at the citys two ice rinks.There are both pros and cons to locating the venerable museum collection there, but the problem remains that there hasnt been much public consultation over what its fate should be.Ideally, the best place to locate such a unique museum would be at the Curling Rink itself; there is no room as the building is currently configured, unless the Ag Society decides on an alternate location for its offices one day. Otherwise, perhaps the addition thats currently being constructed at the Sports Arena should have been put onto the Curling Rink instead.The next best place for the museum would be at the Soo Line Historical Museum, which is home of a truly unique collection already, the Charlie Wilson Silver Collection. The Turner Curling Museum, the only one of its kind anywhere, would be an additional highlight to the museum and would help increase visitors there, which in turn would help the struggling facility to keep its doors open.The main obstacle to joining the two museums together, of course, is the cost of building the addition onto the museum building. One could ask why the money dedicated to building the addition at the Sports Arena could not be applied to building it at the arena, but then red tape and other obstacles would likely become a problem.In the end, the arena location may work as its not far from the curling rink, and curlers can take in the unique exhibition of curling memorabilia while taking part in bonspiels, or at any other time of the year.The question that remains is, how accessible will the museum be year-round? Will it be locked up and forgotten about, as it currently is at the Leisure Centre? If so, this would be a tragic turn of events. The Turner Curling Museum deserves a place of honour where curlers and the public can view it.

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