La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Thanks to new guidelines from Governor Jay Inslee, La Conner’s three museums will soon be back in business.

Hours and visitors will be limited when the Museum of Northwest Art museum opens Friday, Sept. 4.

“Since we can only operate at 25 percent of capacity, our docents will need to monitor the number of visitors in the galleries,” said MoNA Executive Director Joanna Sikes. “When one group leaves, another can enter.”

While there is no need to make an appointment beforehand, Sikes said some patience may be required as MoNA staff work to make sure visitors get enough time to look at the artwork.

MoNA staff estimate that between 10 and 15 people can be inside the museum at the same time – wearing masks, sanitizing their hands and standing six feet apart, of course. Masks and gloves will be available at no charge to gallery and store visitors.

Coming just days before MoNA’s online auction begins September 9, the reopening also brings the Museum closer to its 40th anniversary in 2021.

Starting Sept. 11, the Skagit County Historical Museum will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Like MoNA, the Historical Museum is collaborating closely with Skagit County Public Health officials to make sure its reopening plans conform to the most current local health recommendations.

Before opening, staff members need to get used to the newly remodeled entryway and the new point-of-sale system, said Director Jo Wolfe. “We are preparing one-way gallery flows, installing hand sanitizing stations and signage, and learning new protocols.”

A series of test runs with board members and volunteers “will make sure our systems are good before we open to the public.”

The Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum has not announced a reopening date.

“We are trying to figure out whether we can meet the new requirements well, or just barely,” said Executive Director Amy Green.

Challenged by a Victorian building with small rooms and narrow staircases, the quilt museum “will struggle with one-way traffic flow, but we think we have come up with some solutions.”

The museum is also surveying its volunteers, who are largely in high-risk categories, about their commitment going forward.

“How many are ready to return, and what are they willing to do?” said Green. “Are they willing to help clean the bathroom, which has to be done several times a day?”

When the Quilt museum opens, it will offer three “gorgeous shows,” said Green: its first-ever rug hooking show, a biennial exhibit of Japanese textiles and “Colors of our World” featuring work by former students of local art teacher Gail Harker.

The William Cumming mural of Skagit County agriculture and industry, now on display in Seattle, will return to MoNA’s walls in September.

Soon after, the 162-piece Barn Show will be unveiled. It showcases the 50-plus artists who participated in Dick and Lavonne Newell Reim’s annual Fir Island show from 1986 to 2003.

Unfortunately, the usual festive wine-and-cheese opening is not possible under Inslee’s guidelines – which is why the Historical Museum has postponed its planned exhibit on the work of artist Jesus Guillen to next year. “We hope larger gatherings will be permitted then,” said Wolfe.

She believes Inslee’s new guidelines are the result of some serious lobbying by members of the Washington Museum Association and other trade groups.

“They asked us to send emails to the governor telling our story,” said Wolfe, who sent him an email about the Historical Museum. “I’m really pleased that Governor Inslee listened to museum professionals and responded with this workable plan.

“We’re all committed to following the rules. We know if one of us screws up, we’ll all have to close again.”