We finished filming our Virtual Tour with Candlelight Productions. They were great to work with and I appreciated their organization and professionalism with a few laughs thrown in. A big shout out to Steve Johnson, who played Governor Reuben Fenton in the video. We worked off of a nine paged script that I “threw” together with some excerpts from Barb Cessna and Therese Avedillo. Steve was relieved when he was told that his lines were on a teleprompter. The weather did not cooperate with us, so, the videographer will be back this month on a nice day to film the outside scenes. The main purpose of this film is to have a video tour of the museum for those who physically cannot go up or down the stairs. The video will also be closed captioned. We plan to also have the Virtual Tour available in our gift shop, which will be a great gift for your friends and relatives who miss visiting the Fenton.
Next month we have two great programs coming up to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. I will give more history next month. Please put these two programs on your calendar and plan on attending: Wednesday, June 14th, 1:00 pm the documentary Underground Chautauqua: Three Freedom Trails, followed by Q&A with Wendy Straight, and on Friday, June 16th at 6:00 pm the documentary Songs of Slavery and Emancipation, Q&A with Mat Callahan, the creator of this project. Both programs will be held at the Fenton Museum and are free.
The Blue Star Museum program begins on Saturday, May 20th and goes through September 4th. Any active duty service members and their families may visit the museum for free during this time period. You may go on the website for Blue Star Museums and get the list of participating museums. The Fenton History Center has a tradition of appreciating our men and women in service that goes back to Governor Reuben Fenton.
The Fenton History Center will be closed on Monday, May 30th in observance of Memorial Day. Have a safe holiday and remember why we observe Memorial Day.
