This last weekend saw people out touring the local art and heritage scene and participating in the Columbia Basin Culture Tour. As part of the free, self-guided tour people explored artists’ studios, museums, art galleries and heritage sites on Saturday and Sunday.

One of the Cranbrook stops on the tour was the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel (CMRT), which offered free tours of areas not yet open to the public.

“We gave tours of all the partially completed facilities that are not normally accessible to the public because they are still under construction,” said Garry Anderson, executive director of CMRT. “That includes the new exhibition galleries on the upper Freight Shed, the model railway displays in the lower Freight Shed, the Cranbrook History Gallery and the mezzanine overlooking the reception hall outside the Royal Alexandria, where the new offices and the meeting rooms are. The last part of the tour was the archives, which had volunteers explaining what the archives are all about.”

Anderson said the number of visitors they had come through the museum over the weekend pleasantly surprised them.

“We had about 200 people come through each day. When you think of the weekend with beaches and hot weather and that number of people coming in, that is a very, very good figure during the day,” he said. “We weren’t expecting that number of people because it was summer, the weather was good and it was a weekend but it’s nice to know people are interested.”

Another stop on the Columbia Basin Culture Tour (CBCT) was the Fisher Peak Art Gallery. Owner/curator Nicole Leblond said they were lots of visitors and sales made over the weekend.

“We were so thrilled, we just couldn’t believe it. We had over 100 people come in on the Saturday,” she said. “A lot of locals came and they brought friends and there was quite a few people from out of town. It was really, really nice and well done.”

On the Saturday and Sunday the Fisher Peak Art Gallery had artists working both outside and inside and although they had their brushes and canvas and were ready to paint, Leblond said they were kept very busy talking to all the people who came through the gallery.

The Cranbrook and District Arts Council (CDAC), including the Artrageous and Menagerie galleries, was also on the CBCT and Pauline Artifacet said they saw an increase in the number of visitors to the galleries.

CDAC artists were busy Saturday taking part in the Art at the Park in partnership with the Cranbrook Farmer’s Market. Artifacet said they had nine visual artists doing everything from sculpting, to jewelry making to painting and the literary arts group put on a couple of children’s plays.

The CDAC has an exhibit called On My Travels coming up and the deadline for submissions is Saturday, Aug. 28. Pieces can have anything to do with anywhere anyone has been at anytime, including imaginary places. The exhibit will be up for the public on Tuesday, Aug. 31. A literary event will also be held in October with a fantasy them and any writers interested in reading during the event can call the CDAC at 250-426-4223.

The art gallery at Fort Steele Heritage Town was also part of the tour and although numbers were slightly down, Ronda Wood said those that came through were very interested in the demos that went on during the day. Art at the Fort is located in the Wasa Hotel and shows the work of 12 local artists.