First there was a fire followed by a flood and the two events cost the Museum of the Highwood a lot of their artifacts.

After the 2013 flood it was estimated that 70 to 80 percent of the collection, which at the time was stored in the basement of the Memorial Centre, was destroyed.

The collection is in the process of moving into a safe new home.

Director Irene Kerr says it has been stored in some pretty sad places over the years.

"It's always been a problem," said Kerr. "The Memorial Centre was a beautiful space, but unfortunately it was in a basement."

So earlier this year they purchased the quonset building that Walker's Country 'n Western Wear is in and set to work renovating the back half of it.

"It was such a long road after the fire and the flood, it is nice to finally have a really good place to store the collection."

It is climate and temperature controlled, has rolling storage with lots of room for expansion.

They rent out the front of the building to Walkers and the back underwent extensive renovations to hold some of the communities most precious belongings.

Like Guy Weadick's cowboy hat.

The renovations needed to the building to keep the collection in great shape were paid for from a grant that was established to help museums after the 2013 flood.

"We are very fortunate, the places that were most affected by the flood were able to apply for this funding."

The money paid for the renovations and also paid for all the work that went into saving the collection after the flood.

The best part - they can now see what they have.

"For me after 55 years we finally have a decent place to store the collection."

They are also looking to use the space to hold workshops.

"We want it to be a learning space, after what we have been through, so we are hoping that some of the people who have worked on this project can come back and share what we have learned."