Bushplane Museum seeks help with big renovation

The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre at 50 Pim Street, commonly known to Saultites as the Bushplane Museum, wants to secure $1,150,000 for major renovations to the landmark tourist attraction.

In order to receive funding from the senior levels of government, the museum must first raise 10 per cent of that amount, or $115,000, by itself.

Toward that $115,000 goal, the museum hopes to raise $50,000 through a GoFundMe site.

The renovation plan, and the grassroots fundraising campaign, will be worth it all, Bushplane Museum officials said at a press conference held Tuesday.

“We are the city’s number one tourist attraction, we believe,” said Kim Park, plugging website Trip Advisor’s ranking of the museum’s popularity among attractions in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (though, it should be noted, Trip Advisor is not the only source or final word on Sault tourist attractions).

“Now’s the time for the community to come together and start taking ownership of this great facility that they have and support our efforts to meet this funding requirement in order to get both the provincial (NOHFC) and federal governments (FedNor) on board to help us implement this new plan,” Park said.

The city’s Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation (SSMEDC) has also already been approached for $100,000 in funding for the museum’s plans, officials say.

“If you come here on Bushplane Days there is a tremendous number of young families here, so I’m hoping they can contribute anywhere from $10 to $20 each, that would go a long way toward that GoFundMe page goal,” said Richard Walker, Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre board of directors member. 

Walker said the Bushplane Museum has also identified a number of potential corporate donors, with meetings scheduled with those potential donors in the next few days.

“We’re hoping we can raise the balance (of the $115,000 needed to be raised by the museum as its share of the cost for the renovations),” Walker said.

“We’re also looking at legacy sponsorships, naming a theatre if we get a major contribution.”

The renovation will allow for better use of space for programs which already take place at the Bushplane Museum and make room for new ones, including; 

• the Algoma District School Board (ADSB) White Pines Field School for challenged youth (which gives them a shot at real-world, hands-on work experience in such things as maintenance and running a cafe)
• expand the Building Maintenance and Construction Training Program in partnership with Ontario Works, Sault College and Habitat for Humanity
• expansion of the Dr. Roberta Bondar Air Cadet Training Program in partnership with the 155 Borden Gray Air Cadet Squadron
• more and bigger events  
• host travelling exhibits that will generate additional revenue

Todd Fleet, Bushplane Museum curator, said the museum could also conceivably be used as a venue for smaller concerts.

Because the museum is waiting on government funding and local fundraising efforts, there is no timeline for the renovations to be done, but Park said “we would really like to go ahead in the winter and have it completed for our spring tourist season.”

The museum’s operating expenses are currently covered by government funding, admissions, sales from the gift shop, Bushplane Days and other special events and raffles.

The museum employs four full-time and five part-time staff members with many volunteers (with a core of seven regular volunteers within that group, Fleet said).

The museum’s annual operating budget, Fleet said, is approximately $800,000.

After a host of expenses (building maintenance, utility costs, paying staff) the Bushplane Museum cleared approximately $7,000 last year, Walker said. 

With the renovations, the museum hopes to see a 10 to 20 per cent increase in revenue, Park said.

“We want more travelling exhibits to give locals another reason to come back, as well as out-of-town visitors, we want exhibits from Ripley’s, exhibits involving dinosaurs, plastination (preservation and exhibition of bodies or body parts), exhibits not necessarily linked to our mandate (as a collection of historical aircraft),” Fleet said.

“We want to bring something different.”

“We want to get people to come to the Sault and help tourism in general. We’re supporting our community and we’re hoping the community reciprocates (through GoFundMe and other donations, in order to get the renovations started),” Fleet said.

The museum has been in operation since 1989, housed in a privately-owned former MNRF hangar, about 65,000 square feet in size, built in 1948.

It has been about 20 years since the museum’s last renovation, Park said.

The average length of a visitor’s stay at the museum is two and a half to three hours as compared to one hour visits at other aircraft museums (according to a Google search by the museum’s webmaster, both Fleet and Park said).

“We need to do energy savings, which is changing all the lights to LED, which would save us about $18,000 in annual expenditures,” Fleet said.

It is anticipated Northern Superior Brewing Co., located in a separate space within the hangar that houses the museum, will remain a part of the building, Fleet said.

The renovations will see significant changes to the west end of the building facing Pim Street (the front entrance will remain in the same area, but ramped access to the main aircraft display area in the hangar will be present).

A small kitchen prep area and its tables and chairs will be relocated to the rear of the building, while the aircraft will be situated more to the front, along with space cleared in the southwest corner for at least one visiting exhibit annually.

Space will also be made at the Bushplane Museum for Entomica-related activities.

At the building’s rear (or east end of the building) will be space for the kitchen prep area and its seating, a classroom for Ontario Works and ADSB Field School students, Air Cadets and COPA Flight 66 activities (it will also be open for rental), an artifact collection and preservation and video production room.

The museum’s theatre will be fully functioning, perhaps more interactive, Fleet said.