Heritage professionals from around the world are heading to Oil Springs this weekend.

The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage – the group which advises UNESCO on World Heritage Designations – is holding a conference in Sarnia Thursday and Friday. Saturday, they’ll be heading to Oil Springs to view the historic Fairbank oil fields and the Oil Museum of Canada. The two sites are a National Heritage site and in 2017 applied to be on Canada’s tentative list to be considered for world heritage status.

Heritage professionals from Poland, Scotland, Spain, Texas, Pennsylvania and Canada will be on hand. Poland, which also has a history of very early oil, is sending four delegates to the conference. They are proposing a serial designation of early oil sites for world heritage. They will be seeing Oil Springs
for the first time.

“We are excited to welcome these experts to Lambton and raise awareness of the preserved industrial heritage in Oil Springs and its unique value,” says Andrew Meyer, Lambton County’s General Manager of Cultural Services. “We hope this will advance discussions on the joint world heritage designation for the Oil Museum of Canada and Fairbank Oil.”

Following the conference, a summary report will be made. This will be shared internationally and next steps will be determined.