This is a mock up of the new Kalona streetscape exhibit that will be a part of the Kalona Historical Village.

The Kalona Rotary hosted their annual omelet breakfast last Saturday, this year the profits from the breakfast went towards the Kalona Streetscape project, but what exactly is the streetscape?

Janet Ferry of the Kalona Historical Village tells us, “The streetscape project is part of a big renovation. So our Wahl Museum was built 49 years ago, it has been torn down and we are constructing a new building. Half the fundraising will be for the new building and half the fundraising will be for the new exhibits inside.”

There will be five new exhibits in this museum, the largest being the streetscape. Ferry says this streetscape exhibit is modeled after The Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit, located in the Milwaukee Public Museum in Wisconsin. That exhibit was built in 1965 and is regarded as one of the oldest walk-through dioramas in the world. The Kalona streetscape will be highlighting some of the town’s oldest businesses. The street names and the displays will show how Kalona looked way back when. Ferry describes the exhibit further, “It’s kind of a three-quarters model of what those buildings were. We’ve done a lot of research on the history of the buildings and the types of artifacts and things that were in it. Because we tore down this Wahl Museum all our, about 5000, objects and artifacts had to be cleaned and stored, so now we’re looking forward to giving them a new home.” Ferry says these new exhibits will give more context to the historical objects shown, and therefore deeper meaning. Construction of the building has started, and the Kalona Historical Village is aiming to have this exhibit completed in conjunction with the village’s 50th anniversary in 2019. Ferry says they also hope to install interactive touch screens in the museum as well. The total cost of this project is $300,000.