BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — The Wood County Museum still has not fully reopened to the public seven months after frozen pipes burst.
The Wood County Museum is still waiting to be able to set up exhibits again. Restoration work is ongoing to repair water damage from the museum boiler system freezing and multiple pipes bursting.
While insurance and donations have covered the repair costs, the museum is still missing out on admission revenue for the 2023 season so far.
"Lost revenue for being closed," Museum Director Annette Wells said. "Because normally, this is July, this is like the height of busy season."
To make up for that lost revenue, the Wood County Museum is hosting the Boiler BBQ Bash Fundraiser Friday from 6-9 p.m.
A $60 admission gets you unlimited City Barbeque, beer and wine, a concert with Nikki D and the Sisters of Thunder, raffle prizes and an online silent auction.
Wells said the museum has completely relied on the charity of its donors and the Wood County community through its closed-down period and hopes to be able to invite guests through the doors once again before the end of the 2023 tourism season.
"Obviously we were not planning on being closed for that long, it's been disappointing," Wells said. "But, the way that we've been working around it is we try to have things outside on the grounds, and that's one of the reasons we're having our big fundraiser here outside."
Marissa Muniz-Kolhoff, the museum's marketing and events coordinator, said the outdoor events will continue until the hopeful reopening at the end of summer or in early fall.
if you can't make it out to the BBQ in person, you can still help the museum out financially. The silent auction runs until 8 p.m. and is open to anyone.
The museum also accepts online donations at any time.