Fredericton Region Museum — Attraction in Fredericton

Interesting to walk around from an observational perspective. I wouldn't revisit. The upstairs porch was nice to enjoy. The displays reminded me of a collection of junior high school projects from the 90's and many of the interactive elements were not functioning. Example, pull out drawers with displays were broken and other displays with buttons and lights not working. It all felt very underfunded and not what you would expect as a representation of a provincial capital region, more like something I'd expect in a small village. I enjoyed the building and it's architecture itself more than anything. No one was present when we entered main door and I wasn't even sure if you just walked in or had to pay. There is an entrance fee, $6. Individuals greeting patrons could use some training on their welcoming of guests and level of professionalism. They weren't rude, just felt like a neighbourhood Lemonade stand...

Not a world-class museum by any stretch, but it's still certainly a pleasant way to spend half an hour or so learning about Fredericton's heritage. You have everything you would expect, including exhibits on the major groups who have lived in the area (the indigenous population, the Acadians, the loyalists), and some things you probably wouldn't expect, including entirely too much space (almost three rooms) devoted to UFOs that even for a pseudo-science topic still manages to teach you remarkably little. That would actually be my main complaint: a lack of information. You're left to wander through a random order of exhibits (it's definitely not chronological), and while some do have a quite a bit of informative text (the room on confederation was quite good), some are just filled with a bunch of objects and not much in the way of explanation. Overall though I did learn a fair bit, and it's certainly...

It's a funky, oddball little museum and therefore I recommend it. As a tourist I found there was a lot of depth, but not always enough broad context. I felt like I was being shown the trees but couldn't see the forest. Some of the text and videos were overly long unless you're a local who's going to return often.

And though I'm sure it takes a lot of time and hours to compile labels for all the artefacts, it seemed strange to have a label for a bucket, but not for a buckskin dress. (Was it Mi'kmaw? I was curious to know more about it.)

BUT. There was also a spectacularly kooky exhibit about a Roswell investigator, and a funny room about a frog, and little frogs hidden throughout--and again, a lot of depth. So though not as coherent as the larger museums I've been to in my life, it's damn entertaining for $6 and definitely memorable. I think students, friends, families would all find...