Celebrating a bang-up first year—by the numbers
Wow, cake decorating has come a long way! It was tasty, too.
Forgetting a birthday is an unforgivable sin in most families. But at the Museum, we were so caught up in our Canada Day programming that thoughts about our first birthday got pushed to the back of our collective mind. Luckily, somebody at the office was on the ball and we held a brief celebration with the whole Bank Communications Department the following Tuesday morning. There was plenty of cake and plenty to celebrate.
In 2017, in the first 6 months of operation, we welcomed 40,000 people through our doors; in our first full year our visitor numbers pushed past 70,000. That’s a 91 per cent over the numbers from our last year before closing (pause while the audience claps). And for icing on the birthday cake, we logged nearly as many guests for our 2018 Canada Day event as we clocked for those coming through the doors during our grand opening.
Our first birthday was the hottest Canada Day in recent memory. But we still welcomed over 2,700 visitors.
Both of those times, and for all the times in between, our Visitor Services Team rose to the challenge. Most of our first year’s events drew—easily—double the numbers of their 2012 counterparts, as we welcomed people for a broad variety of activities and themed programming on topics from tulips to counterfeiting. Police officers, artists, trappers, currency experts and our own curators popped in to help make the programming a success with speeches, displays and tours. For Doors Open 2018, our numbers were a whopping four times the figures we saw the last time we participated in this event, with visitors showing a surprising appetite for the guided tour format. Growing interest in guided tours has prompted us to add them to our 2018 summer season schedule. Drop by and check them out.
During our Winterlude events, fur trapper and educator Archie Martin displayed trapping artifacts while he told stories about the fur trade.
RCMP Corporal John McMath manages some very curious crowds at the counterfeit kiosk during Fraud Prevention Month.
Artist and teacher Monique Martin giving an origami workshop at our Canadian Tulip Festival program.
Running a museum is always going to be a learning process, but year one is especially intense. It’s when you learn that demonstrating the stain resistance of polymer bank notes results in guides with blue fingers; it’s how you figure out just how quickly complimentary ice cream can disappear on the hottest Canada Day on record; where you see that people really, really like to touch props and artifacts (particularly soft, furry ones); and how you discover that in an age of do‑it‑yourself museum tours, lots of folks still like a little knowledgeable guidance. Next year’s learning curve should be slightly flatter. Or not...
Over 6 metres long and displaying 400+ artifacts, our digital touch wall came online in December. It’s one of the biggest of its kind in North America.
The touch wall might be cool, but visitors still love to handle artifacts when they get a chance. Touching a salt brick at the Tulip Festival.
Our favourite visitors were the Ice Hogs, Winterlude’s own furry celebrities.
Nobody takes a selfie where they’re not having fun: Canada Day 2018.
OK, I just tooted our horn for over 600 words and I did it mostly with statistics (we are a central bank museum, after all). Still, thanks for your patience with our shameless bragging and an even bigger thanks for your wonderful patronage during our first year of operation. You deserve a slice of cake as well, but I’m afraid we finished it all.
We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s):
Blog posts
The Museum Blog
July 16, 2020
Johnson’s Counterfeits
By: David Bergeron
Johnson’s entire family, two girls and five boys, was involved in the counterfeiting operation: dad made the plates, the daughters forged the signatures and the boys were learning to be engravers.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
June 29, 2020
The Reluctant Bank Note
By: Graham Iddon
Among 1975 $50 bill’s various design proposals were three images, three thematic colours and even three printing methods.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
June 11, 2020
Nominating an Icon for the Next $5 Bank Note
By: Graham Iddon
Using a Bank of Canada Museum lesson plan, nearly 200 students told us who they thought should be the bank NOTE-able Canadian on our new $5 bill.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
History,
Social studies
Grade level(s):
Grade 06,
Grade 07 / Secondary 1,
Grade 08 / Secondary 2,
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4
May 5, 2020
The “Streak of Rust” and the King of Newfoundland
By: David Bergeron
Reid was on the verge of ruin, yet insisted on continuing railway construction. Suffering huge losses, and with no credit or cash resources, Reid issued wage notes to pay his employees.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
April 22, 2020
Retired Cash
By: Graham Iddon
In January 2021, 17 of our old bank notes will lose their legal tender status—what does that mean?
Content type(s):
Blog posts
March 30, 2020
The Fisher, the Photographer and the Five
By: Graham Iddon
There’s little doubt that the BCP45 is lovingly preserved today partly thanks to being immortalized on this beautiful blue five-dollar bill.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
January 15, 2020
Where Futurists Feared to Tread
By: Graham Iddon
Among the laser pistols, hover cars and androids of science fiction, there’s an elderly elephant in the room: money.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
January 2, 2020
Wrap-up, 2019
By: Graham Iddon
The Bank of Canada Museum set some very ambitious goals at the end of 2018. We have managed to achieve more in one year than we had since we opened in 2017.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
November 8, 2019
Private Atkinson’s War
By: Graham Iddon
Private Edward Atkinson’s example of trench art is what is called a “love token”—a souvenir made from a coin. It’s one man’s personal wartime experience expressed through a pocket-sized medium.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
