COEUR d’ALENE — The opening day of the Museum of North Idaho is Saturday. Executive Director Britt Thurman is at once excited, nervous and nostalgic.

“Hopefully this will be the last day we have an opening day in this location. Bittersweet,” she said.

By this time next year, Thurman and her team hope to be in their new home — the renovated J.C. White House — at McEuen Park.

“We’re really confident we'll be able to finish it this year and move in this winter,” she said Thursday.

Until then, it will continue to operate out of its longtime home at 115 Northwest Blvd. by City Park.

The featured exhibit on opening day is “Cowboy Joe: The Art of Joe Breckenridge.”

A room is dedicated to the artist who was born in 1894 in North Dakota and eventually made his way to North Idaho.

A rodeo cowboy who served a year in the military, Breckenridge was also an artist who traveled the country and around Canada and Mexico.

He often painted landscapes that depicted wildlife near lakes, rivers and mountains.

About 30 of his paintings will be on display, almost all donated to the museum, including many by Cisco’s Gallery.

“They want to make sure his work gets preserved,” Thurman said.

The museum’s permanent exhibits on explorers, Scandinavians, steamboats, Mullan Road, McEuen Park and more remain ready for viewing.

While the museum annually attracts about 6,000 visitors, Thurman believes it will be more this year because, for the first time, it will have three featured exhibits.

The Breckenridge exhibit ends Memorial Day weekend. It will be followed by one on North Idaho during World War II. Next will be one from the Smithsonian Institute, “Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II.”

The museum has raised about $2.5 million of the $6.5 million for the renovation of the J.C. White House and other expenses with getting its new home ready.

Another $500,000 would allow it to move items from the current museum to the new one.

Thurman said they are waiting to hear back on grant applications and working with donors to close the gap.

“We are super close to the end of it,” Thurman said.

The new museum will house exhibits, art and educational resources, with a goal to be a premier regional museum.

It will also have heat and air conditioning, which the current museum lacks.

“That will be nice,” Thurman said.

Museum hours Saturday are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A benefit for the museum is set for May 20 at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. It will feature big band music, dancing, dinner, auctions and World War II vehicles.

Editor's note: This story has been edited to reflect the correct amount that has been raised for the museum's new home.