I had a wonderful visit to the Fredericton Region Museum yesterday. I usually like visiting local museums like this because I can listen to the stories that they want to tell visitors. There are the big historical periods like the Aboriginals, the Acadians, the Loyalists, the World Wars. And then there are local stories like the burned-down Barker House Hotel, the UFOs, and the Fredericton Society of St. Andrew. I loved how many items were donated by family members and their personal stories retold in the exhibits.

For a volunteer-run operation, there was a lot more to explore than I thought. I took my time reading to not finish too early only to find yet more things to discover! I spent around two hours in the museum. The volunteer on duty at the time was very friendly and helpful, offering to keep my luggage in the storeroom during my visit.

That being said, some of the exhibits downstairs could have better designed labels and signage to explain the overall narrative for the room before diving into the significance of each artifact. I loved how the museum is bilingual (allowing me to try my hand at reading the displays in French) but a few labels are missing in French and some inconsistencies are evident (e.g. meal names in international vs. Canadian French). Overall, highly worth a visit if you have a chance and are interested in local museums!

– Lyndon Chan

We came here for the Stanton Friedman exhibit. We were already planning to visit Fredericton from Ontario this weekend and were happy to find this exhibit taking place! The exhibit was awesome and the gentleman (including Jim Lawrence were quite knowledgeable. He did a great presentation for us. Overall this is a lovely museum with different exhibits. Clean and well organized.

– Emily Burtnik

We love popping into this museum! Every visit with the family feels a little different — even though the exhibits usually change just once a year, there are always seasonal events and little surprises to discover. Most recently we checked out the Harvest Arts exhibit put together by the museum members, and it was absolutely lovely. Big props to the team for keeping things fresh and fun!

– Elenka Severina