Museum and buffalo jump visitation down during COVID-19 pandemic

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Board held their monthly meeting and discussed the significant drop in visitation the museum and Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump have experienced amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our numbers are significantly down from last year,” Museum Manager Emily Mayer said, “Last year, we had 574 visitors to the museum and this month we had 97 … the virus is certainly hitting our visitation very hard.”

She said visitation to Wahkpa Chu’gn is also down, with 28 people requesting tours this month while last year there were 115.

Mayer also said new Montana Dinosaur Trail merchandise has been priced and is now available to be sold including postcards, tote bags and cups.

She said despite low visitation a lot of people are looking to get their Dinosaur Trail passport stamped.

Mayer said the museum and buffalo jump have implemented a new system for providing tours to the jump with the museum’s gift shop attendants offering the tours.

She said a new sign is posted at the jump to reflect the system that says if anyone arrives between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday or Sunday from noon to 3:30 p.m. and would like a tour, they should go to the museum to check for availability.

Mayer also discussed a recent interview she did with a Glasgow-based radio station and praised the effort they put in into the interview, which she said, she thinks went very well.

“They asked some super good questions,” she said.

Mayer also briefly discussed a new wax sculpture that was offered to the museum.

H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation President Elaine Morse suggested that they not take it due to the high temperature the area has been experiencing.

She said given the climate she thinks there is too big of risk of damaging the sculpture.

Morse gave an update on the foundation’s recent activities including that progress is being made on a brownfield abatement grant for the Havre History Center’s building update.

She also said the foundation board has an opening and local musician Kirt Miller has been recommended for the position, which Morse said, he’s clearly very interested in.

Board Chair Lela Patera said informational booklets the jump has been selling have recently been updated correcting some minor spelling and grammar mistakes.

She said she’s been in contact with Carbon Copy, which can make more booklets for $7 a piece or could outsource to a place in Denver for $5 a piece.

Patera said she would require permission from the foundation on an amount that could be spent for producing the booklets.

Morse and others suggested setting the official price of the booklets at $10.

The board also discussed an increase to buffalo jump tour prices to take effect next year.

Patera originally proposed increasing for each kind of ticket, adult, senior etc., by $1, with no change to the price for school tours which mostly come from vouchers.

Morse and others suggested a greater increase, partially so they wouldn’t have to change it so often.

“I think whoever comes is going to come for the tour and I don’t think price is going to be an obstacle,” Morse said.

Board Member Val Hickman said this increase in price may help the museum become more self-sustaining.

Patera asked members of the board to consider potential prices to vote on at the next meeting.

She also said the museum’s credit card system is up and running, but there hasn’t been a need for it yet. Patera said, as a result, the system requires a test and price configurations have yet to be made.

The board also discussed the teepee that has been successfully installed at the jump and praised the work of everyone who helped put it up.

Local resident Lou Hagener told the board he’s been asked to run a range management class at Montana State University-Northern in the fall, and he’s been looking for local places to take student for labs.

He asked if he could use the jump once during the semester to help educate students and what the board would potentially charge for such an event.

“Between my mom and I, we took FFA and 4-H kids into the buffalo jump to do a primer on range management and ecology and those sorts of things, and that’s kind of what I’d like to be able to do,” Hagener said.

The board unanimously approved the request and said they wouldn’t charge.

The only concern that was raised was that of fire safety, and Hagener said he would tolerate absolutely no smoking from students and would exercise caution.

Board members Judy Dritshulas and Kathy Shrauger said Patera was chosen to serve another term a chair of the board and David Sageser will be the vice-chair.

Shrauger stepped down as secretary with Dritshulas taking her place.