A new $4.8 million sound and light show is coming to the Britannia Mine Museum.
“The show is going to be fantastic,” said executive director Kirsten Clausen.
The creative and design work for the immersive show has already begun, although fundraising is still underway, she noted. Clausen said $2 million has been raised to date through corporate donations, and the museum has also applied for government grants for the show, which is expected to attract more tourists to the Sea to Sky Corridor. The mine museum now draws 74,000 visitors a year, up from 35,000 in 2010, she reported.
The immersive sound and light show, which will be installed in the mill building, will “tell the story of what the building means,” said Clausen, noting the museum, a former copper mine of world significance, is a National Historic Site.
It thrived as a mine, especially in its heyday of the 1920s, when a bustling community of workers lived onsite and mined a significant part of the world’s copper.
“In the mining world, Britannia was well known,” said Clausen. “Sixty thousand people lived and worked in Britannia.”
The show at the mill will provide “scary fun” to visitors, she said, reflecting how the mill was during its operation. “It rocked and it rolled… it was smoky and dusty.”
Although Britannia ceased operations in 1974, mining continues to have a critical role in people’s daily lives. Clausen said as a society, we use “a massive amount of mined materials.”
The show will add a new component to the mine museum, which already features an underground train tour, gold panning and interactive displays.
“I think it’s going to be really exciting,” she said, standing in the large mill building, where concerts have also been staged.
Clausen said the new show will be world class. The three-part spectacle, called the Mill Experience, has been designed by Vista and their collaborators, a group of artists, designers and engineers. It will incorporate comedy as well as dramatic moments and teach about the significance of mined materials, which Clausen notes are essential for everyday modern life. For example, smart phones include several minerals, copper alloys guard hospital equipment from germs, and zinc supplements save tens of thousands of children’s lives in developing countries, according to museum information.
The sound and light show will include a dust smoker, fire bell, mock electric arcs, a 14-foot main screen, welding sparks and surround sound, among other features.
Clausen said the Squamish area is fortunate to have two world-class tourism attractions – the mine museum and the Sea to Sky Gondola.
“Try to think of another community of 17,000 people with two anchors for tourism. And the festivals too.”
Clausen anticipates the new show will open in spring 2017, assuming fundraising efforts continue to go well.
