Colourful fun at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Centre (photo: Ryan Jackson Photography/Travel Alberta)

Kids’ Club: Alberta’s Contributions to Canadian History

By AMA Staff

Summer offers innumerable opportunities for road trips and excursions to some of Alberta’s top historical attractions and heritage museums!

FOUNDING FOLKS
The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is a little bigger this year: Its new Galician Farmstead tells a fuller story of Ukrainian pioneers who came to Alberta 125 years ago from an area between modern Poland and Ukraine. And look for a new art exhibit that marks the 150th anniversary of Confederation with students’ explorations of their family roots.

ENGINEERING INNOVATION
For Canada’s 150th, the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston, and Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin jointly present “The McLaughlin Story.” The exhibition relates how this Canadian family helped shape our nation—first as carriage builders and then as automobile manufacturers.

Even bigger rigs—like an 850-ton excavator—can be found at Fort McMurray’s Oil Sands Discovery Centre. And Calgary’s The Hangar Flight Museum boasts restored aircraft, many of which had notable roles in Canadian aerospace history.

Kids Club Frank Slide Interpretive Centre Alberta
The site of Alberta’s notorious Frank Slide (photo: Brendan van Son/Travel Alberta)

LOCAL HISTORY
Discover Alberta’s dinos, disasters and more:

• At the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre, find out what happened to the people who found themselves in the path of Canada’s deadliest rockslide, which buried part of a town in 1903.

• The Pis’kun program at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump immerses guests in traditional buffalo-hunting culture. Join an elder in a smudge ceremony, learn how weapons were made and even use a spear thrower!

• The Royal Tyrrell Museum presents “Grounds for Discovery,” a new exhibition featuring amazing fossils found in collaboration with Alberta industries. Opens in May.

• Once the home of Alberta’s first premier, Rutherford House can be explored with costumed interpreters, and hosts events like a Dominion Day picnic (July 1) and Sunny Summer Fair (July 23).

HOW TO SAVE
Save 15% on Experience Alberta’s History passes at AMA centres. Passes grant summer-long access to Alberta heritage museums and pay for themselves in just three visits. No pass? Show your AMA card and save 10% or more at every museum on this page.

KIDS GO FREE
Add your kids (under 16) to a Plus or Premier membership for free! They can get roadside assistance even if they’re not with you.