Greetings readers and welcome to Discovering KW. In this column, we will be travelling around Kitchener-Waterloo to discover some of the lesser known activities, locations, events and see some cool stuff. This week we will be exploring a few of the KW area’s museums; specifically, THEMUSEUM, the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame, and the Waterloo Region Museum.
We’ll start by travelling down to THEMUSEUM (Yes, that is how it is spelled) in Kitchener. THEMUSEUM is located on 10 King St. West. It opened in September 2003 as the Waterloo Regional Children’s Museum and was renamed to its current name in 2010. Despite its previous name, THEMUSEUM has a variety of exhibits for people of all ages, is quite reasonable for students to visit and is open from 10AM to 4PM on weekdays and to 5PM on weekends. General admission is $17.50; however, if you want to see a special exhibit (Currently, AVATAR: The Exhibition and Treasures of China), you’ll have to pay anywhere from $15-$25 depending on which ones you want to see. Overall, THEMUSEUM is a great way to spend an afternoon off-campus and I would definitely recommend you take a visit.
The next place we will travel to is the Waterloo Region Museum, home to the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame and a gateway to the Doon Heritage Village. The museum itself is located on 10 Huron Rd. in Kitchener, opened in May of 2010 and formally had exhibits starting in November 2011. The Waterloo Region Museum showcases themes throughout the region of Waterloo’s history and even features an exhibit on the University of Waterloo!
As mentioned previously, the Waterloo Region Museum serves as a gateway to the Doon Heritage Village. The village is a historical village that shows “what life was like in the Waterloo Region in 1914” with period buildings and villagers. For those from Toronto, it is very similar to Black Creek Pioneer Village, except all about Waterloo. The village is a great way to see how the KW region was founded and is included in the admission to the Waterloo Region Museum. The best thing is that admission to both the museum and the village is only $8 for students, making it an inexpensive way to spend a day.
Also inside the Waterloo Region Museum is the Region Hall of Fame. The hall of fame opened in 1972 and honours people and groups that have made significant contributions to the KW region. Each year, the hall of fame holds nominations for new entrants and anyone can participate in these nominations. Admission to the hall is included in any regular admission to the Waterloo Region Museum making it an easy and affordable way to spend time off campus.
That’s all of this week’s exploration of the Kitchener Waterloo area. Hopefully, you learned some about some new fun things to do and places to explore off-campus. Next week, we will be exploring some of the wonderful wintry activities around the KW region. Stay tuned!
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