PEI

Hidden treasures and forbidden spaces: Doors Open Festival comes to Charlottetown

If you've ever been curious about what some of Charlottetown's buildings — which are generally closed to the public — look like from the inside, now's your chance to explore.

The festival is being held on P.E.I. for the first time Saturday

The Haviland Club will be hosting tours every 20 minutes on Saturday as a part of the Doors Open Festival. (www.havilandclub.com)

If you've ever been curious about what some of Charlottetown's buildings — which are generally closed off to the public — look like from the inside, now's your chance to explore.

Doors Open, an international festival, is being held on P.E.I. for the first time on Saturday. 

For Marissa Ladéroute, the program co-ordinator at Creative P.E.I., getting locations like Charlottetown city hall to open its lesser-known rooms wasn't as difficult as she had initially anticipated. 

A pleasant surprise 

"I just basically went ... and asked them if they would be interested in opening up their doors and surprisingly a lot of them were interested to show the rooms that they never get to show the public," she said. 

Participating locations across Charlottetown will open their doors at no cost to Islanders and some will include guided tours.

People will have the chance to take a peek into some of the secret rooms of the city's most unique buildings and hear some of the histories — and even ghost stories — behind them.

Some of the featured buildings will include the Confederation Centre for the Arts, the Haviland Club and the Great George Hotel.

Participating locations will be open to the public at varying times throughout the day. 

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