There will be silence in the air around Fieldcote Memorial Park and Museum after the city announced it will close the facility for the rest of the year.

Loris Corey, curator at Fieldcote Memorial Park and Museum, said it will also mean Ancaster Old Town Hall and Griffin House, which are overseen by Fieldcote, will be shuttered until early next year.

“Yes, this was surprising news indeed,” said Corey.

She said bookings and other events scheduled for the facilities will be cancelled. Corey said they are allowed to take new bookings starting in January 2021.

The museum grounds and trail are still available to the public.

“So, I am assuming this means we will hopefully reopen in January,” said Corey. “However, in these ever fluctuating times, nothing is for certain.”

Ancaster Horticultural Society’s Bob Wilt says closing the town hall will mean the organization has to scrap its monthly speaker series scheduled for September and October. The society’s plant sale and garden tour were also cancelled.

Wilt and other society members will continue to look after the flowers and weed the beds at Fieldcote every Thursday and town hall. He said members also pick up the litter that’s piled up around the municipal service centre and Old Town Hall. Society members also look after the garden bed Brandon Park at the corner of Rousseaux and Wilson Street.

Ancaster’s Municipal Service Centre is also closed, but the Hamilton Library will be offering takeout service at the Ancaster Public Library branch starting July 14. There are six more branches reopening including Ancaster, Kenilworth, Sherwood, Saltfleet, Turner Park and Waterdown. The others are Central, Dundas, Red Hill and Terryberry.

“It’s a bit of an inconvenience (to have Fieldcote) closed,” said Wilt. “The members use the facility for its washrooms and its space to have their lunch. But depending upon the weather they can still use the tables for breaks.

“There is also a Tim Hortons (on Wilson Street),” he said.

The horticultural society is continuing with its Trillium contest with members travelling throughout the community judging the contestants. The awards are expected to be announced this fall.

Meanwhile, the Ancaster Society for the Performing Arts was not expected to hold its annual Music at Fieldcote this summer, said Corey, after Anton Plas, the music director, retired after the 2019 season and a replacement has yet to be found.

Corey will continue to work from home and physically monitor the Fieldcote and the other two buildings. Program co-ordinator Daryl MacTavish has been redeployed to Dundurn Natural Historic site.

The museum’s two part-time museum staff were not scheduled to work since the facility closed in March.

The city decided to reopen Dundurn National Historic Site, the Hamilton Military Museum and the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology starting July 15. Hamilton Emergency Operations Centre Director Paul Johnson said recently the city isn’t looking at reopening other museums in the near future.

John Summers, manager of heritage resource management, said the three museums that will reopen are best suited to offering visitor experiences that meet social distancing and other pandemic guidelines.

Summers said the city will monitor the situation and reopen other Hamilton museums when feasible.

Wilts said there is an expectation that Fieldcote and Old Town Hall will reopen next year for community events.

“There is a hope for the community that in 2021 the museum will be available,” he said.

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Story behind the story: When it was announced that the City of Hamilton would be closing most of its museums for the rest of the year, we wanted to find out how it would affect the people of Ancaster.