Parksville Museum and Farmers Market

• Author: WantsToTravelMore
• Accommodation: Parksville Accommodations

The Parksville Museum, which is also called the heritage park, is located right next to the BC tourism info centre off of highway 19A as you enter Parksville via Nanaimo. This small museum works to preserve Parksville’s history.

It comprises of a collection of old buildings that have been moved to the site and filled with artifacts dating back to the late 1890s. What’s compelling is the rustic harshness that people who lived in the area had to deal with. They were all trying to keep a connection to the larger world while dealing with the limitations in transport and communications of the era.

On Friday evenings, you can combine the museum visit with the Farmers’ Market which invites local businesses to sell hand made material. There were many choices of fresh foods (we bought late season strawberries and some bread) and crafts ranging from jewellery to soaps and lotions.

The atmosphere was folks-y due to the nature of the products and a folk singer who covered a great deal of music. Interestingly the singer sounded like a quite good 45-year-old man but looked like an older woman. I was too chicken to ask. I prefer simply being accepting and confused.

We arrived around 4 PM while the market was setting up and could do a by-donation entrance to both the market and the museum. The market runs May to October and is worth stopping by.

More info: parksvillemuseum.ca