February 2024. Already? Our first event of the month was our participation in the Chamber’s Open Doors on Saturday, February 3rd. This year we asked people to pre-register online which worked out well. 266 visitors toured the museum. People asked “How do you keep it so clean,” and remarked that the Virtual Video Tour is wonderful. Many visitors said that they hadn’t been in the museum since third grade and others were visiting for the first time. I would like to thank volunteers Beverly McGraw, Sherry Vesotski, Kristine Fuller, Sara Pittock, Janet Wahlberg, Jim Wahlberg, and staff member Barb Cessna, for organizing and cleaning the mansion on a regular basis. I would also like to thank our staff (Andrew, Barb, Matthew) and volunteers Ang Cimo, Sharon Matson, Doug Scotchmer, Marie Carrubba, Sandra Hatfield, Rick Roll, Sherry Vesotski, and Jim Wahlberg for being here to make Open Doors 2024 a success.
Don’t forget that February is our Trivia month. Trivia is every Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm at Shawbucks. Teams of 2-6 players compete for $100 each Wednesday with the team on the last Wednesday winning $200 for the highest cumulative points. Admission fee is $10 per person each week. Grab your friends, create a team name and come on down to Shawbucks! The categories will be related to the 1970s and the 2010s.
A big shout out to Tom Goodwill, Tom Greer, John Gustafson, Rick Roll, and Jim Wahlberg for doing the Gift Shop make over and other repairs of the building while we were closed in January. Stop in and see how nice our Gift Shop looks now. You don’t need to pay admission to come shop with us!
This year we are gearing up to seek funding for the mansion roof project. The Historical Society will be working with City grant writer Paula Pinchon to help with funding the project. One day as I was turning lights on in the mansion I happened to look out a window at the top of the staircase and noticed a squirrel making an impromptu inspection of the roof. If only the roof could be replaced using squirrel labor we would only need a million peanuts for payment. Food for thought.
