Museum offers escape
Knowing the night sky, phases of the moon and celestial navigation will be a big help to people who take on an escape room at Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum’s Moonlight Masquerade.
The affair is part of the Museums of Niagara Association’s First Fridays series of events being held at museums — eight this year — across the region.
In its third year, the events held on the first Friday of each month mix The Smokin’ Buddha’s signature food-truck fare, drinks and live entertainment alongside rich historical spaces and collections of Niagara’s museums in order to transform the spaces into vibrant hubs for social activity for local adults.
Abbey Stansfield, Port Colborne museum’s education programmer, said the escape room will consist of four puzzles that people will have to solve in order to get out. The escape room will be inside the museum’s schoolhouse.
“The puzzles are based on navigating by the stars, to play on our marine heritage,” she said.
People who work their way through the room get a prize at the end.
The event gets underway at 7 p.m. this Friday. It will also feature a scavenger hunt through the museum gallery, three photo booth stations and live music by Moonfox.
The scavenger hunt will take place in the main gallery, currently hosting the museum’s Photography 150 exhibit.
Guests will be required to closely examine pictures and artifacts throughout the exhibit in order to answer prompted questions.
Stansfield and Michelle Mason, the museum’s assistant curator, said people coming to Moonlight Masquerade are encouraged to come wearing a mask. Those who do will receive a ballot to win a prize.
Mason said there will be a maskmaking station set up for people who don’t have their own mask.
“It’s going to be a magical night,” said Mason.
Tickets can be purchased at firstfridaysniagara.ca or at the museum at 280 King St.