The Victoria Community Development Corporation
Lifestyles Museum and Cooperage

An important goal of the Victoria Community Development Corporation(VCDC) is the creation of long term sustainable employment for residents. The VCDC is working towards this objective by trying to attract new business to the town or establishing new enterprises. Applications were submitted to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency(ACOA) and Human Resources and Development(HRDC) to start a Lifestyles Museum in the community. This building would serve a dual purpose. During the summer months it would be a museum housing full size replicas of a cooperage, sawmill and blacksmith shop. The remainder of the year the site would be a cooperage making wooden products such as barrels, planters, churns and anything else we could make that there was a market for. These applications were successful in 1996.

The Town of Victoria gave the VCDC a piece of land on the Power House Road as a building site. Money for materials and equipment came from ACOA with HRDC providing four laborers. The building shell was completed in August 1996 with the interior finished by VCDC volunteers in spring of 1997. The all wood building is 50' x 30' on the ground floor, complete with tools and 30' x 30' storage upstairs.

In May of 1997 the VCDC began working on making the Cooperage / Museum a business.
With funds from HRDC a Cooper and two Woodworkers were hired to set up workshop and developed prototypes of different wooden products that market research indicated there were market available. These products included large barrels, small kegs, wood planters, butter churns, and bait tubs. Over a period of several months several potential customers showed interest in proto types and placed orders. Sections of the building was also open during the summer months to visitors to demonstrate barrel making. While the Woodworkers funding ended in August, the Cooper continued working until December 1997.

The VCDC's plan was to have the Cooperage stand on its own in 1998. Sales and verbal commitments for our products in 1997 indicated enough business to create seasonal employment for two people in 1998. However, technical difficulties in obtaining materials from suppliers prevented the VCDC from filling orders to our largest customer. Imports of a similar product that had been our major output in 1997 pushed the price to low to compete.

Between 1998-2001 the Lifestyles Museum/ Cooperage has been put to productive use. In an effort to prepare the building as a museum during the summer months funding was obtained from Human Resource Development Canada (HRDC) to hire a person that was qualified in museum site preparation. He set up the museum in a manner that brought it in line with professional standards. The person hired for this project was a Graduate of the Cultural Resource Management Course offered by the College of the North Atlantic.

In the off season the building and tools have been used as part of a Business Incubation Centre and for Community Development Projects. Under his own initiative a person started a coopering business making large wine barrels. The Business Incubation Centre helped this business through the use of the building and equipment for a very low fee for several months in the Spring and Fall one year. This business has moved to a larger location and expanded into other products.

The Victoria Heritage Society the Newfoundland Pony Society have used the Lifestyles building and equipment to work on projects they have in development in our town. Both have stored materials and supplies in the building at different times. When the workers are on the job the building is used a work shop and shelter from bad weather.