Hubert Smith hands one of the winning tickets to Alan Andal as the Board of Directors for the Vintage Power Museum have one of their monthly meetings. (Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

By Nick Nielsen

funds used for new building

Vintage Power Machine Museum wraps up one of their largest fundraisers

Sep 6, 2024 | 12:33 PM

Just south of Prince Albert, the Vintage Power Machines Museum finished off a cash draw fundraiser that serves as one of their biggest fundraisers of the year, and they have big plans in place for the money.

President of the museum Alan Andal said they sold nearly all 2000 tickets for the raffle, which is the most they’ve ever sold on one of these draws.

“Right now what we’re using it mostly for is we’ve got a brand-new building that we’ve been building and if we were to had it done by contract work, it would have been possibly close to half a million dollars, but being as that we are doing it on our own, we’re probably building it for about 190 to 200 thousand.”

While doing the work themselves has helped substantially cut the costs of the new building, there is still another problem.

They are building a 34 x 72ft building with a new kitchen and seating for up to 75 that they will be able to use at their annual festival. The members of the board for the museum aren’t afraid of the work, but having some younger blood on sight would help them get the work done more efficiently.

Trump shooting

Trump is safe after shots were reported in his vicinity in Florida, Secret Service and campaign say

10h ago

Tech billionaire returns to Earth after first private spacewalk

12h ago

Park Renaming

Midtown Community Park renamed to honour former city councillor Lee Atkinson

Sep 14, 2024

“The average age of the guys working on it is around 80 because we’re mostly members doing it. We’ve had a few friends of members and a few other people that come and volunteer as well. We’ve had to have a wee bit of construction done by contract, like when we lifted the rafters to put on the roof. So if it was something that we couldn’t quite do on our own.”

An old general store preserved at the Vintage Power Machines Museum (Nick Nielsen)

The construction of the new building has been going well, and they have secured most of the supplies they are going to need to finish off the project. They still need to do a little bit of fundraising for some drywall and insulation, and that will let them use the building for their meeting room. If they want to finish the kitchen to use it for their festival, there is about a $28,000 bill they would need to raise money for to get the proper duct work done for a commercial kitchen.

“I would say probably we won’t get it finished till at least next year, but depending on what level we want to use it to, we can’t use the building as far as we understand until it’s totally complete. We may be able to negotiate using it for our meeting room without using the kitchen unit at a later date, we’re not 100% sure, but I know as far as using the kitchen, everything has to be finished before they’ll allow us to use it.”

While there is still work to do, Andal is appreciative of all the support they have got so far. With an average age of 80 years old putting their new building together, they could use a few more volunteers to get things finished.

“I just want to thank all the people that’s bought tickets this year again and have in the past and hope that some good things will come of it knowing that we’re going to put it to good use. People realize that a new building is what they’re helping build. It is a lot better than it just disappears and nobody sees anything happening of it, so we greatly appreciate everybody’s help and whether it be from our festival or our draws, it’s all good. It stays local, it doesn’t go somewhere else, and we hope it’s for the betterment of our area so thank you to everyone.”

If you are interested in helping the Vintage Power Machines Museum with their building project, you can get a hold of Alan Andal at 306-960-8168.

—

panews@pattisonmedia.com