Becker County Museum to Close Temporarily

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – The Becker County Museum will close temporarily as they prepare to move into their new facility in 2022.

Construction on the new 30,000 square foot building with a cost of $6.4 million begin in May, 2021 and is expected to be complete this spring.

To facilitate the move, the museum will be open by appointment for research only Dec. 24 through March of 2022. March through May, the museum will remain closed and will begin inventorying and cleaning items.

“We need that window of time to pull everything out, going through everything, getting it organized, cleaning and making sure all our items are free of mold and all of those things that could put us in a compromised position,” said Becky Mitchell the Executive Director of the Becker County Museum.

In May of 2022, Mitchell says the Museum will formally move out of the facility so that it can be demoed in June to make way for a parking lot space with hopes of opening the new facility in the Fall of 2022.

Though the museum will be closed, the organization will still be very active in the community. Mitchell says they’ll operate as a museum “on the go” helping celebrate the building of the Ice Palace during Polar Fest with a History of Ice exhibit in the Detroit Lakes Pavillion, be involved in a number of community and educational events and continue to host events for kids throughout the summer as well as be heavily involved in the Becker County Fair.