DUNCAN — The Chisholm Trail Heritage Center closed its doors to the public amid the uncertainty surrounding the spread of COVID-19. That was two months ago, on Tuesday the building will cautiously reopen its doors and begin the slow, delicate transition back to a semblance of normalcy.
The reopening is not without its own difficulties. The hardest part has been securing a reliable supply of sanitizer and masks, according to Executive Director Scott Metelko.
“Thankfully the markets on those have loosened up a little bit,” Metelko said. “We will finalize the plans on Monday, but we have a pretty good plan for making sure that folks can keep their distance and stay safe.”
The center will open with new operational changes that will all guests access to most of the center. The schedule has also changed, visitors may now enjoy everything the center has to offer from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Face coverings or masks will be required for all guests and staff while inside the center, and the number of visitors will be limited to 25 at a time. Heritage center staff will be sanitizing the throughout the day and will be available to assist visitors while practicing social distancing. Seating in the theatres will be limited to one family or group at a time, and seats will be sanitized afterwards.
One silver lining during the closure has been the extra time for the staff to deep clean the center, according to Metelko.
“We have cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned,” Metelko said. “There are a lot of behind the scenes electronic aspects of this place and it’s really hard to work on these when you’re open, we’d have to close a presentation down to the public. But we’ve had the opportunity to relight some things and make sure all of the electronics were working properly.”
Unfortunately, the shutdown inflicted a financial burden on the center that, despite receiving some relief aid from the government, will be hard to offset.
“The future is still looking kind of scary, we lost all of our earned revenue for the two month period and indications are it’s going to be down moving forward,” Metelko said.
One of his primary concerns right now is with the center’s educational programs. Designed to cater to large groups of students during the school season, the educational programs may need to be reconsidered and reformatted if the pandemic does not relent by September.
“We aren’t sure if the schools will pick those back up and that’s where most of the uncertainty for us lies,” Metelko said.
For Metelko, who took over the role of executive director in February of 2020, the closure meant putting his plans for 2020 on hold while he worked with his staff to mitigate the financial loss.
“Everything got upset as far as what we do and how we present ourselves to the public. All of that sort of went out the window for now, so we are going to have to start over to try and regain that little bit of momentum we had,” Metelko said.
For community members that would like to show their support for the heritage center, Metelko suggests purchasing a membership.
“They (memberships) are relatively inexpensive and it directly supports our educational programs and events,” Metelko said. “And if you haven’t been here in a while come back and take a look, you don’t know what you’re missing.”
The heritage center does ask all guests to practice social distancing while they are visiting, and that visitors be prepared to wait if the center is at maximum capacity.
If you have any questions or you would like more information, please call 252-6692.
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