NOVEMBER 2010
Did we ever have a prettier October? Except for the fact that we’ve had no moisture, it’s hard to complain about blue skies and Indian Summer temperatures! Nevertheless, the calendar says that we’re fast approaching the end of the year and the holiday season is upon us. So here are a couple of important dates for your calendar, and an invitation for you to be involved in our holiday events.
# 1: Sunday, November 14th is the date for the annual Merchants Holiday Open House and the Scott County Arts Council will once again host an exhibit of local arts and crafts at El Quartelejo Museum. Refreshments will be served and there will be a quilt raffle. The museum gallery and the Jerry Thomas Gallery and Collection will be open to the public, as will our gift shop, from 1-5 p.m.
We have many unique gift items and it will be a fun place to shop for Christmas. Many items are one-of-a-kind and not available anywhere else in town. We have beautiful horsehair pottery and other Native American artwork and jewelry, books for adults and children, toys and games, and the Scott County historic playing cards, which will be great “stocking stuffers!” Of course all the Jerry Thomas prints are available and are a very popular gift item.
# 2: Sunday, December 5th will be the annual Holiday Open House and Sugar Plum Sale at El Quartelejo Museum. We may have to change the setting a little, but we’ll still feature tables of Christmas candies and cookies, which will be sold by the pound. We’ll still serve cookies and drinks for your pleasure, and we’ll still come up with some kind of drawing. AND we’ll still have a special Christmas display in the temporary gallery. This year, Lorraine Stoll will be sharing her extensive Christmas Village collection – you won’t want to miss that!
NEEDLESS TO SAY – we need your donations of candies and cookies for the Sugar Plum sale. We are open every day now (through the end of the year) from 1-5 p.m., so you can bring your goodies on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4th) if that works best for you. It would be helpful for us to know if you are planning to bring something for the sale, so please call the museum: 872-5912 or Patsi 872-3523.
It’s been much too long since a newsletter went out – sorry about that. We had lots of catching up to do after the spectacular Grand Opening of the Jerry Thomas Gallery & Collection in May, and of course we plunged right into the busiest time of the year for visitors. We were open mornings and weekends from May through Labor Day, which required extra staff and many volunteers. We won’t to try to list all who gave volunteer hours but around 40 different folks helped out, some for a time or two and some every week. You know who you are and we thank you!
We were amazed at the number of summer visitors who signed in and where they came from. We had visitors from 39 states and several foreign countries. They were very impressed and complimentary about our wonderful facility, but also about our historic sites, the State Park, and our community in general. The All-School Reunion brought in a huge number of visitors over the 4th of July weekend, some who had never been in the museum, and many who saw the Thomas Gallery for the first time. They were pretty much awe-struck!
At the end of August, we lost all our part time employees. Jeff and Linda Knighton moved to Pampa, Texas, and Kathryn Ellis moved to Michigan. They were wonderful employees and we were very sorry to see them go.
Barbi Winderlin was hired in August and began training while Linda and Kathryn were still here. She is working part-time and is a great addition to the staff. She is working weekends, but we still need volunteers for those Saturday and Sunday afternoons as well.
We will continue to be open every day from 1-5 through the end of the year so we have quite a few more weekends to fill. If you have a free weekend afternoon, please call the museum.
Scott City celebrated 125 years in September, and the temporary gallery was filled with memorabilia from the museum collections. We also filled a case with Boy Scout memorabilia to observe 100 years of Boy Scouts of America. These exhibits will come down on November 7th to make way for the Arts Council displays. We try to get the word out when we have new exhibits but you need to check in now and then so you don’t miss anything.
Don’t forget our two holiday events:
Sunday, November 14th and Sunday, December 5th
