A national historic site south of Longview has relaxed some of its restrictions to make the ranching experience more real for visitors this season.
On July 13, the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site re-opened additional visitor services including its Percheron horse wagon ride and limited access to the interiors of four of its historic buildings.
“Nobody could go into any buildings before and now visitors can go into the interiors of the stud horse farm, the ranch office/post office, cook house and saddle horse barn,” said special projects officer Mike McLean. “There’s still physical distancing protocols in place but it’s a step up from where it was before.”
McLean said several services were restricted at the start of the season in light of the physical distancing regulations and mass gathering restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week’s changes were made by the Friends of the Bar U Ranch Historic Association, which consists of members of the community and Parks Canada, McLean said.
“One of our main mandates is to connect the history of ranching to people,” he said. “That’s a very important story to tell.”
The Percheron wagon rides that offered a shuttle service from the visitors centre to the site was cancelled. Effective last week, the wagon ride is now making stops at numerous hitching rails, allowing visitors to get on and off at stops throughout the historic site, McLean said.
“It will tour places including some less visited areas like the historic polo field and farm land near the visitors centre,” he said. “It’s something we’re trying for the 2020 season and we’ll see how it all goes.”
Seating will be limited due to physical distancing protocols set by Alberta Health Services, McLean said.
Services still unavailable since the national historic site opened on June 1 include the restaurant for the rest of the season and the gift shop and several historic buildings until further notice.
“The visitors centre is now just essentially a gateway on to the national historic site,” he said.
Visitors also won’t be able to enjoy the cowboy coffee or baked goods previously offered on site until further notice, McLean said. In addition, group activities, special events and facility rentals have been cancelled for the remainder of the season.
Visitors to the Bar U Ranch this season dropped significantly from last year due to the pandemic, McLean said.
With no tour buses, seniors groups, school programs or international visitors in June, the historic site saw 575 visitors last month compared to around 3,700 in June 2019.
McLean expects the same trend in July and August - months that typically bring larger crowds due to events like the Canada Day celebration and stew cook-off competition.
Despite the cancellation of the site’s special events, McLean hopes people will put the historic site on their to-see list this summer.
“The Bar U is just a wonderful place to come out and take in some fresh air with lots of room to physical distance, beautiful landscapes and vistas and wonderful things to see,” he said. “It’s very important for our community to have things people can do and see.”
New to the Bar U Ranch this year is the Stoney Nakoda tipi camp and the three-kilometre Pekisko Creek hiking trail.
“It’s another way to discover parts of the Bar U not seen by the public,” McLean said of the hiking trail, which opened earlier this month. “It goes north and then east of the visitors centre, then you drop down from the centre, walk along Pekisko Creek and get a beautiful view of the ranch lands to the west and it takes you along a historic irrigation ditch and back to the visitors centre again.”
To learn what is open, what to expect, and how to prepare for your visit to the Bar U Ranch National historic site, click here.
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