World Famous Gopher Hole Museum

09/09/2026

Children back in school. People back at work, starting new jobs or taking classes...or both. Dance, skating, hockey, and vacations, etc have been booked. Our volunteers have their schedules back in order. After some serious contemplation, staff has decided they would like to continue operations on the weekends until the end of September.

OPEN
Saturdays and Sundays
SEPTEMBER 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27
11am-4pm

This is the museum's is 31st season or 30th birthday. We had much bigger things in mind...sigh...anyway, please join us Sept 26 for cake and stuffs. Info coming.

Also we will open September 30 on National Truth and Reconcilliation Day 12-4. Proceeds toward First Nations organisations. Info coming.

It seems the heat will no longer be a threat and a tiny piece of paper we are waiting for has still not made its way to the appropriate office. If we cannot move the buildings, we may as well try to make a little $$ toward the new facility...which, hopefully, keep people from trying to plot my demise 🙂.

We understand this year and our reduced hours have been frunstrating for our guests. We assure you it has been more frustrating for us, however, everyone's health and safety is my top priority. Unfortunately, complications with the existing building...and the land purchase to expand our lot...has made this season uncertain, but we are trying our hardest to be the most gopher we can be for you.

09/06/2026

Open 11-4:30 Sunday and Monday.

Every year we get photos or videos that really make us smile, make ys giggle and touch our heart. With all the behind the scenes headaches, they make you realise that what you are doing, despite the naysayers, is important. We are not in the museum or attractions business...we are in the making memories budiness🥰. Thanks for our Austrailian frines for letting us share😘

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcsgGwfvjDr/?stkn=Nnd0cTA1bXV2dDB6

09/05/2026

Last chance for Trouble with Tribbles at the Vulcan and District Historical Society Museum and Archives . Captain Kirk comes home after this weekend.

We are open 11-4:30 today, Sunday and Monday. After that 🤷. Stay tuned.

Your last chance to check out this delightful display on loan from the World Famous Gopher Hole Museum. Their version of the Trouble With Tribbles. Next week it is going home to Torrington to hang out with his gopher family. We are most grateful for this loan. Come check it out Saturday 11-5, Sunday and Monday 1-5.

09/04/2026

It has taken me all day to make the reel! Thanks for showing up today and keeping me on my feet folks!! It has totally cleared out and we have 60 min left...just sayin'. In the mean time enjoy some of our guests and their photos.

Friends of the Museum! As we enter what is probably the last weekend of the season...and of this building, we want to thank all the wonderful people that have supported us these past 30 YEARS! You are truly the best!!

Open 11-4:30 Friday-Monday

If our volunteers have availability, they may choose to open other weekends in September...but not probable. October on...no...just no 😁. Please stay tuned.



https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc4J64vRBvP/?igsi=MmZkNHN3MGxkbGd6

09/02/2026

UPDATE: The volunteers have their schedules figured out. They have committed to opening Saturdays and Sundays through September 11am-4pm. Also open for National Truth and Reconcilliation day September 30 12pm-4pm

We are STILL waiting for a piece of paper to make its way to the lawyers before we can move forward with any plans. This is completely out of our hands friends, but it might make us available...if we have volunteers... to open the remaining weekends in September. I understand it is very frustrating...are we open? Are we closed? Are these the hours? Is it moving? I assure you, we are equally, if not more, frustrated.

Back to the hydrants with the OG's if this crazy clan.

Granny is the matriarch of the GoFur clan. She is the mother of Trixie, Mabel and Junior. Her grandson, Clem, is Torrington's official greeter and the two are found waving at folks driving by. Granny and Gramps were some of the first settlers of this region at a time when Canada would carving Alberta from the NWT was not even an idea yet. That is also about as long as she has been Brewing 'gopher giggle juice' in the campground.

Gramps is the patriarch of the GoFurs who is getting a little long in the tooth (...is that teeth?...tooths?) but he still enjoys a bit of barley now and then (don't tell Granny!!) He is always happy to welcome visitors when they stop by to see him at the south end of town where he yells at clouds and avoids Granny nagging at him to put the seat down.

09/01/2026

Last year, someone pointed out to me that there were people...IN THE MUSEUM!!

Some doubt that the 'power of gopher' reaches far enough for us to call ourselves "World Famous." This diorama, and its accompanying "Gopher Olympics" display are here to calm the naysayers.

At any Olympics, there is a pavillion or more of things from the host country. When Vancouver held their Olympics in 2010, they believed that this hick town in the middle of nowhere and dead gophers represented Canada very well *we blush* and we got the invite. Former board members John and Bev Graham took Albert on the adventure of a lifetime where he proudly represented Canada...Alberta...and Torrington. Since, he has travelled more than most Albertans ever will. But what's that?? He was not alone??

I am not a patient person or one without curiosity (though it seems I am oblivious at times!). Once I was informed of the humans hiding in this display, I just needed to know!!

Who did I find inside? Answer in the comments!

08/28/2026

OPEN 11-4:30 THUR-SUN

We brought in these stuffy t-shirts last spring and thought they were all gone except for a few stragglers. While clearing out our storage in anticipation of closing, we found a few dozen in the deep dark corners of the cabinet. In honor of Lake Ontario, we will be putting these guys on sale for a very Canadian twoonie ($2.00) or get one FREE with the purchase of one of our FUNDRAISER STUFFY'S where 100% of the proceeds go toward our new building.

Fun fact: most of these mini T's have been bought by Americans. Not so fun fact: in this past year we have fielded so many questions from our southern neighbours if they would be welcome in Canada, in Alberta, in the museum...it has been very sad. We love you!! I go so far as to say y'all in the museum...it seems natural (that's just for you Tenessee!! Iykyk). We just don't like jerks no matter what country they come from.

08/27/2026

So yesterday's post today.

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Stavely Museum in the Town of Stavely nestled between Town of Claresholm and Town of Nanton . When back in Nanton where I spent the weekend many said, "I didn't know Stavely had a museum@". Why yes folks...it does! And this is why you should go. My host Orion was very friendly and knowledgeable.

Unlike many museums where you get your hand slapped for getting too close, Stavely allows an interactive, hands-on experience. Museum gossip 🤫: this has riled up the ire of some museum professionals who worry about artifacts being broken (we get it...some people...airtight?), however, some feel it offers unique, teachable moments. Many people, learn best from touching and doing. The Stavely Museum has created this special, tactile experience for its guests. It's very cool.

What else did I love? Not everything was an antique. Don't mistake me, I love old things...*so much*...but Stavely houses several vintage items from my own lifetime (yours too) that evoke a special nostalgia and melancholy. I saw plates and kitchen wares that my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents used. There were toys that I or my cousins or the kids I babysat played with.

If you go, and you should, call or email to check availability. It said it was closed when I stopped...but I stopped anyway because life should not be linear.

From their webpage: "Museum Hours
June - Friday to Monday - 10am-4pm, closed 12:30-1:30

July and August - Thursday to Monday 10am-4pm, closed 12:30-1:30

Tours available year round, contact us by email!

[email protected]" You can also message their FB or IG.

Remember folks, many small and/or rural museums are struggling and can really use your feet through their doors. If we do not protect our history, others have the chance to change it.

08/26/2026

I interrupt the regularily scheduled post for today. Dolly was hard yesterday, Tim Curry cuts me deeply. There are some fundamental pop culture things that create whatever the thing is that I have become...he is a big one and I am gutted. I grew up in small town Alberta...Torrington. From the city. I had already had a different start to the world with different experiences and influences than my rural peers. I did not conform, though that would have been easier, nor we we related to everyone. I was weird, an outcast, a misfit. I dressed different, talked different, acted different, gad different interests. That was accellerated by being painfully shy and quiet...the perfect foil for a bully or a few (you know who you are). And yet, I cherish those moments as they made me creative, reiliant, and tenacious. Frank n' Furter taught me it was ok to be me. At the museum, we will always be inclusive to everyone...indeed, the weirdos are our people. We belong to all of you...even the normies!

Two legends...the world is certainly less wonderful today.

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