Museum in Oil Springs hosting Black Gold Fest Saturday

A free day of family fun is being offered Saturday during Black Gold Fest at the Oil Museum of Canada in Oil Springs.

The annual day of special activities at the Lambton County museum runs from 11 am to 4 pm

Admission to the museum is free that day, but donations are welcome, said Jessica Stevenson, marketing and events coordinator for the county museums and archives.

Black Gold Fest has been an annual summer event at the museum since 2012, although it took a couple of years off during pandemic restrictions, Stevenson said.

“It’s a really great opportunity to celebrate our local oil heritage, and we do it in a family-friendly way,” she said.

About 450 people attended last year and organizers hope to attract a similar number this year, Stevenson said.

The Oil Museum of Canada is located at the site of the first commercial oil well in North America where pioneers of the oil business drilled for oil in the later 1800s, and where oil continues to be pumped from the ground today.

“We have a whole bunch of cool activities and demonstrations happening,” Stevenson said.

There will be crafts for kids, including a lino block printer kids can use to make a design and then use paint to print the image on paper.

The Lambton County Library’s button maker also will be there so children can design their own buttons to wear as a pin.

“If they want to doodle their own design, they can turn that into a button,” Stevenson said.

Girl Guides from Wyoming also will be leading a craft that day, and there will be free face painting.

Several games will be set up outside on the museum grounds for families to take part in.

“Tourism Sarnia-Lambton is going to be here with a booth and they’re going to have a couple of games of their own,” Stevenson said.

A historical re-enactor will portray Jacob Lewis Englehart, one of the oil producers who created Imperial Oil, with shows at 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm and 2:30 pm

“He’s going to walk people through a bit of the history of who Jacob Englehart is,” Stevenson said.

“We know him as the man behind Imperial Oil but we also want to get to the heart” of who Englehart was, she said.

A staff member at the museum describes Englehart as a “romantic,” she said.

He was married to Charlotte Eleanor Englehart and donated their home to Petrolia following her death as a hospital that remains in the town today.

“They have a deep connection to Petrolia. . . beyond his connection to Imperial Oil,” Stevenson said.

Also planned is a blacksmith demonstration, plus music by the trio Wood Strings Wind.

Enbridge will be at the site with a model pipeline display.

Visitors will be able to purchase food from Truckin’ Mamas on the Run and Buble Ice Cream food trucks, as well as beverages from Petrolia’s Black Gold Brewery.

Visitors also will be able to visit the main gallery building at the site, which reopened recently after extensive renovations, and the seven out-buildings located on the site.

“It’s going to be a fun day,” Stevenson said.

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