Gering Museum closed until further notice; on hiring freeze

GERING, Neb. Legacy of the Plains Museum has closed their doors until further notice amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

As staff at the museum tracks people coming from outside of the area being a tourist destination, there was a possibly of exposure with being open.

Staff also closed their doors alongside public schools.

As the museum is closed, it is losing between 20 to 100 visitors a week.

The Museum has also cancelled all of their educational spring events, four to five school field trips, Kindergarten Days used to provide fun events to 600 kids and any rental spaces.

The goal is to still host educational videos in the future.

“That’s something that we really looked at,” said David Wolf, Executive Director. “We were already in the process of doing some virtual distance learning programs. The problem was we just wasn’t there yet. I think this is a huge impact. I know my kids went through Kindergarten Days and they absolutely loved it. When we have kids come back for the events just to see the museum, it’s a great feeling. They go and show their parents some of the cool things that they did.”

With funding, the City of Gering is helping to defer loans.

The Museum is also cutting as much costs as possible.

The Museum has not hired for any of their open positions, interviewed any volunteers or part-time staff.

Wolf says to support the open businesses to prevent closure.

“It’s huge to support local businesses,” said Wolf. “We have been doing the same thing. We try to go out and get a curbside meal from a restaurant every other day. With us, we are in a unique situation where were are public good.”

The Museum will kick off a virtual fundraiser this afternoon called I Am Legacy.

This is used to talk about the cool things of the past, stories of family, how they got here and what they did by using the hashtag #IAmLegacy.

This will be used to collect funds to help the museum which can be found on their website and Facebook page.

Once the museum reopens, staff will take extra cleaning precautions by making sure everything is wiped multiple times a day.

Wolf is the only staff personnel on payroll during this time.