New manager brings new vision to Tank 77 Museum

Times Phoro by Trevor Busch. HISTORY MATTERS: New manager Taia DeBona is working hard to make the recently rebranded Tank 77 Museum more visible in the community and more accessible to its residents.

By Trevor Busch
Taber Times
editor@tabertimes.com

Drafting the roadmap to a community’s history can be a complex process, and for museums the days of musty archives and traditional displays are giving way to a technological revolution.

With that in mind, there’s big changes underway for Taber’s Tank 77 Museum as new manager Taia DeBona takes over the reins.

As a young Taberite, she admits there was nothing she wanted to do more than flee the sometimes constricting confines of her small town. 

“Right out of high school, I started working in marketing, social media, marketing tech – I knew I wanted to do something in the arts and that kind of led me to start to go to school in Calgary,” said DeBona. “I went to a college up there called VCAD (Visual College of Art and Design). So I got a diploma in 3d art, animation and design. From that, I got a job at Bow Valley College in Calgary, and I worked there for three years teaching people everything from 3d animation to visual effects to game design.”

Years later, she felt herself being called back to her home community.

“It was really strange, because when I was 18 I moved to Calgary. I was like, ‘I want to move to a big city, I want to get out of the small town.’ And then after years of that, I was missing my small town, which is such a classic story, I think. So many people have gone through something similar. And so I moved home,” said DeBona.

With her educational background, DeBona initially began working on a new website and logo for the Tank 77 Museum.

“Eventually I went to the one of the board meetings, and I pitched them my plan of how I could make a website for them and how I could design a logo for them. And I found a group that was very passionate about the museum, but they were really struggling, especially with tech, that kind of thing. They didn’t know how to make it happen, but they knew what they needed. And so I pitched them my idea. They loved it, and then I spent a year on the museum board making their website and their new logo, and I just really fell in love with it, I realized the more I worked with the museum how much this was something that was exactly what I was wanting. I literally said to my mom the day that I quit, my dream job would be working in a museum or a library. And so it worked out perfectly that there was an opening.”

That work would eventually lead her to be considered for the position of museum manager.

“So it worked out perfect that they had a need for someone young who knew about tech and could design things, and so that’s what I did,” said DeBona. “And I really fell in love with it, and then it just kind of worked out that Brenda (Pyne, previous museum manager) wanted to retire, and I put a bid in for the job. And after a lot of deliberation, I’m very lucky and thankful that they chose me for the job.”

Since taking over the role, DeBona has been utilizing her educational background and her passion for history to bring a new vision to the museum. 

“I’ve been working here for four weeks now, and it’s literally been a dream come true. It’s very overwhelming in there’s so much stuff to be done, but I’m so excited and motivated to come to work every day, and every day there’s a new, interesting problem that I need to solve, and I’m able to use that tech background and that art background in my job, and my passion for history, and it just worked out perfectly. I’m just really excited to serve the community. When I came onto the board, I saw these people that were really passionate, that wanted to make something happen for the museum. I’m excited to expand on that, to keep bringing the board’s vision to life through the museum.”

Awareness is a key factor in the new approach.

“We have so many collections and things in our archive that most people in the town have no idea is even here. I mean, some people don’t even know we have a museum. And so that’s my main goal is getting that history out to people, the public. When they think of a museum, they probably think their main goal is to be a place to look at stuff, right? But really, our main focus is making sure that we’re preserving and documenting our history and educating the people around us and so, really just making sure our displays really showcase not just one side of our history, but all sides of our history,” said DeBona. 

Recently rebranded from its previous moniker – Taber Irrigation Impact Museum – the Tank 77 Museum plans to showcase a lot of its collection, as well as preserving a record of current history for future generations.

“We want to update it – one of the reasons we changed our name from the Taber Irrigation Impact Museum was we wanted people to know that we’re the Tank 77 Museum, our focus is on Taber’s history and the surrounding area,” said DeBona. “We’re no longer focused just on irrigation because, although the town kind of started through irrigation, that is such a small part of our history, and so we really want to showcase all sides of the story and all of the different collections that we have in the back. We want to make room for them in the front, so that people, when they come through here, they’re actually seeing the stuff that we have, because a lot of our coolest stuff is just sitting in the back – there’s all these WWII uniforms and things that I brought out for the Air Cadets, and that was all in the Admin Building basement. So that’s the big focus is getting things out, making sure that they’re properly displayed, making sure they’re stored well, and just taking care of the history when someone donates something to us. We have such a responsibility to make sure that it’s not going to decay, it’s going to be preserved well. And one kind of rule of thumb that I’ve been really trying to abide by is taking care of the history in the past – way before my time – the stuff that we have here, some of it’s from the early 1800s, but also taking care of current day history, writing down the things that are happening, making sure that we are archiving the recent additions of the Taber Times, because 100 years from now, someone’s going to thank me that I recorded that kind of stuff.”

“We have a lot of big changes that are happening in the back end that a lot of people aren’t going to see, making sure that we’re organizing and making sure we have policies in place for things, and trying to get more board members and cleaning up our archive, making sure it’s all stored properly. But our more public facing initiatives, we are currently updating our displays.”

DeBona wants to see the museum’s profile raised at annual events, and will be participating in a series of community celebrations in 2025. 

“And then we are also going to take part in events that we’ve never taken a part in before. So we’ll be open during Canada Day, Summer Games, Cornfest. We really want to get people through the doors and learn more about the history. Our main goal is just getting our awareness of the museum up. And really we have so many grand ideas that would happen five, 10 years down the line. So really, the theme of this year’s efforts is proving ourselves so that those really big ideas that we have down the line are justifiable. We’re doing monthly pop up displays. That’s another big thing. We’re just trying to keep the ball rolling. I’m calling this right now our ‘Renaissance’ period. We don’t want to stagnate.” 

DeBona was careful to acknowledge the hard work of those who have come before her.

“Just a huge thank you to the people that came before me. All of this history that has been collected thus far is through their efforts, and it’s just really cool to go through our archives and our collections, and just see all the things that were donated to us and all the work that was done before, and then also a huge thank you to the board, because really it’s through their work that any of the museum is possible. They’re the ones that facilitate keeping the lights on, and it’s their vision that I’m trying to make happen.”

Tank 77 Museum is open Monday – Friday 9-4 p.m. (May to September) and Tuesday – Thursday 9-4 p.m. (October to April) at 4702 B 50 Street.