By Jim Gerwing

At the March 31 monthly meeting of the Docents of the Royal BC Museum, Tim Willis, Director of Exhibits and Visitor Experience, outlined the components of the latest exhibit of the Museum, Free Spirit, Stories of You, Me and BC, which goes on until January 2009.

The exhibit celebrates the 150th anniversary of the establishment of British Columbia as a crown colony. Planned and built by the staff of the museum, this show highlights their expertise. It is made up of six separate, yet related, parts.

The first is the exhibit itself, which is inspired by its name, Free Spirit. Visitors can roam through the space in any order they wish. This is no dry history lesson. Here the people, the ordinary people of British Columbia, find themselves and their culture on display. It is by all counts most impressive.

A small version of the exhibit will travel about the province, planned to make six stops. Another traveling component is a train with a different set of exhibition parameters. It will make its way across the province east to west, stopping 36 times. Both are free shows.

A fourth component is a huge website, set to collect the stories of ordinary people. Throughout the year, people can have their stories inserted into the site. It promises to be user-friendly. Visit it to see what stories people have already told and then compose your own story.

A book is already at the printers, available at the end of April.

Finally the museum plans a series of special events to mark the anniversary.

Tim Willis exudes a special kind of enthusiasm. It is precisely that kind of spirit that is attracted to British Columbia.

The Royal BC Museum has a long record of show-casing the very best exhibitions. The people of British Columbia can be proud to visit, and visitors from outside will get a superb view of our history and our people. Don’t miss it!