Clack Museum closed until at least June 8

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Board discussed the prospect of re-opening and unanimously voted to remain closed until their next meeting June 8, when the decision will be re-evaluated.

“(H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation President Elaine Morse) and I have talked at length, and she feels like we shouldn’t,” Board Chair Lela Patera said.

Phase One of Gov. Steve Bullock’s re-opening plan allows museums and some other facilities that had been closed, such as movie theaters and gymnasiums, to re-open Friday.

Patera said the decision to open would be informed by how Phase One progresses, but she said, the museum may remain closed even after Phase One is complete depending on how the pandemic progresses.

“I feel like we shouldn’t do anything about opening anything until we see how Phase One goes, and maybe even into Phase Three,” she said.

Patera said she attended a meeting with representatives from museums along the Montana Dinosaur Trail, a meeting that was originally going to take place in Rudyard, but had to be held over Zoom in the wake of the pandemic. She said she heard during that meeting that most of the museums along the trail had tentative plans to open around June 1.

Museum Manager Emily Mayer said she strongly agreed with the decision to remain closed, citing concerns she’s heard from friends who are front-line health care workers. She said the museum should err on the side of caution.

“I’d just as soon be safe than sorry,” Mayer said.

She also said that the museum, when it does open, should have its occupancy closely monitored and strictly enforce the rule that all attendees must wear masks.

“If don’t want to wear a mask you are not coming in,” she said, “Because, you might feel that it’s okay to spread your germs. I don’t particularly think it’s okay to give it to someone’s grandma.”

Mayer expressed anxiety that these rules may inspire criticism, but that the museum should concern itself more with the safety of its potential attendees and employees.

During the meeting, the board also provided updates on the museum’s budget, which Patera said, has more or less been unchanged since their last meeting due to the pandemic freezing their operations in place for the most part.

“No money has been coming in,” she said.

Mayer said museum attendance was nearly non-existent even before the pandemic forced them to shut down.

“Even before we closed the museum our visitation was so low, I mean it was just nobody,” she said.

Patera said the pandemic had caused the museum to cancel all their major fund raising events including the Tea Party, which was originally scheduled to have taken place on April 15, as well as their Hands-on History event.

She also said the museum’s Living History event has almost certainly been canceled as well.

“Right now, we are in limbo, and we will be staying there for quite some time,” she said.

But Patera said these cancellations don’t pose an immediate problem for the budget, since nearly no money had been spent in the time since the pandemic either. Patera said there would likely be no significant expenses that would affect the budget until next year.

The board also discussed options for installing wifi in the Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump’s Interpretive Center, which has become a more urgent issue because of customers are increasingly choosing not to pay with cash due to concerns about the pandemic.

Board member David Sageser proposed extending the service from the museum to the Interpretive Center instead of setting up its own network, which would be more expensive.

Sageser said the equipment required to do this would be less expensive than a year’s worth of independent internet service at the building and could be partially reused when the museum makes it’s eventual move downtown.

No official actions were taken on the proposal.