Takin' it to the Streets

It looks to be another glorious weekend in beautiful Walla Walla and what better time to begin the Farmer's Market season. Fort Walla Walla Museum will have a presence there every weekend from May 2 through October 31.

If you've looked around, this is most definitely an agricultural community, with deep roots in the theory and practice of farming. The first Euro-Americans who settled here ... Hudson's Bay Company retirees in the Frenchtown area near today's Whitman Mission National Historic Site ... brought the modern equivalent of farming with them. There is some evidence that local Indian people engaged in pre-agriculture activities, knowing which plants to harvest in which season, and it is also true that they were in contact via trade with North American Indian societies that actively engaged in a sowing/tending/harvesting cycle. When the pioneers began to arrive, things really got underway.

The first serious endeavors had to do with serving the miners of the gold fields of the Boise Basin and up on the Colville. It may not be as romantic as swirling a pan in a cold stream looking for 'color,' but it is far more effective at both paying the bills and amassing an inheritence for one's progeny. Prices for staples in the remote gold camps ranged between exorbitant and astronomical and a far-seeing farmer could plan on a crop to make himself a tidy profit.

A harsh winter along the way put a damper on prospects, especially animal husbandry, but farming recovered and soon prevailed. A look at the fine homes on Palouse, Catherine, and Boyer streets in Walla Walla tells a quiet tale of when 'wheat was king.'

Little has changed in the intervening years as a tour of the Palouse region will show. We still have our wheat and sweet onions, even if asparagus, peas, and orcharding have peaked and waned. Grapes get the bulk of our agricultural panache these days and that ties in to the upcoming barrel-sampling weekends, another celebration of agricultural production.

In any event the Farmer's Market has become a Walla Walla institution and a good place to snag one of the Museum's "$1 off all adults in group" coupons. Saving a little money hasn't gone out of style around here, either.

Today's photos show my pal Deeson from Zerba Farms and the lovely young lady is my charming wife Celia. In the meantime, check out the Famer's market web site ... and see y'all on Saturday! http://www.gowallawallafarmersmarket.com/

Another Museum outreach occurs this afternoon at 12:30 in Heritage Park where ArtWalla unveils its 'windows to the past' project. Collections Manager Laura will be speaking to the assembled. heritage Park is the alcove-like area along East Main Street just north of the old Sears building where the Sew 'n Vac Center is today. Ya gotta love a town that takes its heritage this seriously!

Progress on the Expansion Front

I blogged a little about the progress of our new Entrance building in our Services & Facilities Enhancement Project, so thought I ought to show some of the results.

Watching an efficient construction crew at work is pretty interesting. These guys obviously have done this sort of thing before, so they move along apace, with minimal conversation or slack time.

They have a piece of equipment with independent wheels (it's orange in the pics) that the driver can turn around on a dime (and get change back, too) that lifts the heavy sections from horiozontal to vertical.

By later in the afternoon, the walls were all in place except for those they must wait on. Today, Wednesday April 29, there is a flatbed trailer loaded with pre-built trusses, so we can anticipate a roof pretty soon.

You know, this really is a community enterprise. We had financial backing of magnitude from the State Heritage Capital Campaign Fund, but after that, things were overwhelmingly local. The Sherwood Trust, a few other smaller grantors, and more than 300 individuals contributed to this 'next generation project' in the preservation of local heritage ... OUR heritage. An indication of the importance of that can be found in our daily visitor statistics. We query folks about how they happened to hear of the Museum; the lion's share of answers are variations on a theme: word of mouth. People bring thier visiting friends, relatives, and business associates to the Museum to share our collective past with them.

It's quite a story we can tell with more than 42,000 artifacts in the collection. Folks have been busy in this corner of creation for many a year and the evidence of that is all around you at Fort Walla Walla Museum.

Great Day in the Sun!

Oh, Sunday was a glorious day! We threw the gates open wide and invited any and all to enjoy the Museum on our annual Open House day. Hundreds of people came out on what seemed a sort of unofficial 'baby buggy day.' Lots of families, lots of kids, lots of special moments.

We enjoyed great food from Tino's Tacos and some extraordinarily fine weather. It is one of our most fun days from a staff point of view, as everyone gets their money's worth. When the weather is as delightful as it was, things just click along.

Visitors got a chance to see our construction project underway, the models of what things will look like when we're all done, and just how different things look when there's no building where the old one used to be. That situation changed radically in the past few days ... the constuction gang spent the latter part of last week building frames for walls ... on Monday, they began putting them up. A drive-by would show you the general outlines of the project and the fact that there really will be a new Museum entrance before too long (late October/early November if we stay on schedule).

Families of all kinds enjoyed 2008's Open House.

This will be our first "big weeekend" of the year. It's time for our annual Open House this Sunday, an admission-free day we dedicate "to the wonderful community supporting the Museum." As a 501[c] 3 (not-for-profit organization), we are tasked with providing a service to the community. Our service is a heritage experience for those who live in the region. Nowhere does it say to provide service only to those who can afford it, so once a year we drop the price altogether and throw the gates open wide. Welcome all!

This year there'll be a wonderful Living History program at 2:00 pm with Ron Klicker portraying pioneer merchant, banker, & railroad builder Dr. Dorsey S. Baker. We'll also have food available from Tino's Tacos and Deeney's Ice Cream Treats.

Open House is a wonderful family event that's easy on the wallet, a great chance to spend quality time with the folks you love the most. On top of all the entertainment, you get the same great Museum, plus the first of six special temporary exhibits in our Headquarters. When Grandma & Grandpa Were Kids showcases children's clothing from 1875-1955. It's on display only through May 11, making this an excellent opportunity to take it in. Beyond clothing, there's some pretty interesting toys and accoutrements worth seeing.

Did I say free? I wouldn't want to forget that!! 10 am - 5 pm this Sunday, April 26th. Be there!

What a Great Bunch o' Folks!

Some of our 2008 Volunteer Award winners. Left to right are Bob Bonstead, Lenora Hermann, Barb Keniston, Carroll Adams, 'Steve' Stevenson, and Museum Director James Payne.

We had a great time Tuesday night ... good food, good company (nearly 80 of us in attendance) ... as we honored our outstanding volunteers from 2008. We had 12 categories of volunteers this year, plus our two "big" awards. Those honored are:

Building Maintenance: Bob Bonstead

Building Attendant: Millie Friday

Gardener: Joann Johnson

Collections: Esther Dixon & 'Steve' Stevenson (tie)

Office Support: Fran Chase

Museum Store: Sally Wood

Intern/College Level: Lindsey Hill

Intern/High School Level: Adana Escobar

Docent: Toss Benefiel

Living History: Rich Monacelli

Buildings & Grounds: Carroll Adams

Morris Ganguet Outstanding Volunteer of the Year: Lenora Hermann

Gerwyn A. Jones Service Award: Barbara Keniston

The Morris Ganguet Award goes to a recent volunteer who exemplifies the spirit of volunteerism. Known affectionately as "The Mustard Lady" (one of the Museum Store's biggest-selling items to our Columbia River cruise tourists), Lenora has worked in the Store, out of the Store, and at numerous special events the past couple of years. On top of that, she hasn't missed more than a couple of shifts in the entire time she's been with us.

The Gerwyn A. Jones Award is our "lifetime achievement" acknowledgement. We like to honor someone who's done it all and Barb Keniston has certainly laid claim to that over the years. She participates in special events, Kids camps, works tirelessly in the collections/exhibits department, has been on our Board of Directors and even served a term as the Board's secretary. Barb looks especially good in the '57 Chevy she and hubby Ken own.

To all our volunteers, especially those listed here, Salute!

Salute to the Volunteers!

Tomorrow is our Annual Banquet and Volunteer Awards. Each year we invite all the members, volunteers, and the public to participate in our salute to the previous season's outstanding volunteers. These wonderful folks logged more than 8,700 hours of service to to Museum doing all sorts of things to make a vistor's experience memorable. We have tour docents, store clerks, Living History portrayers, office support, collections & exhibits helpers, gardeners, building & maintenance help, and a whole host of event participants. Let's not overlook our Board members, who all serve on their own time. In all, it represents more than $150,000 savings to payroll.

We also feature a guest speaker each year and they have been memorable~Darby Stapp, a Tri-Cities archaeologist; Roberta Conner, Director of Tamastslikt Cultural Istitute; and David Nicandri, Director of the Washington State Historical Society are just a few who've graced our meeting. This year we've invited the leader of a sovereign nation: Antone Minthorn, Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Mr. Minthorn will be speaking about the challenges of putting our youth in contact with their heritage and possible joint efforts that the Museum and Tribes may pursue in that regard. We also have special awards for last year's outstanding first-year volunteer and a 'life-time achievment' award.

The food is outstanding, too. Carissa Bossini's Walla Walla Catering is serving up an Italian buffet. If you ever dined at Caravaggio's at the Airport, then you'll know the quality of Carissa's fare. We'll have a social time beginning at 5:30 pm tomorrow with dinner to follow at 6:00 pm. The event takes place in the Blue Mountain/Mill Creek Room at Walla Walla Regional Airport. Tickets are $20 per person and if you'd like to attend, please call today: 505.525.7703.

Serious progress to report today regarding Fort Walla Walla Museum's 'Services & Facilities Enhancement Project.' According to Jim, our groundsman, the construction gang began pouring the slab of our new Entrance Building at 6:00 am this morning. At 8:00 am they were halfway done.

Today's photos show the sign announcing our project that was posted Friday; ongoing concrete construction; last year's Morris Ganguet Outastanding (new) Volunteer of the Year award winner Sally Wood; and the three co-winners of the Gerwyn A. Jones (lifetime) Service Award, Joe & Helene Eaves and Myra Addlington.

Meet Me at the Museum!

It is clear as a bell this morning at Fort Walla Walla Museum and this looks like it will be a great day, perhaps to be followed by a glorious weekend. Finally! Sunny and warm, just classic Walla Walla weather.

The weekend also brings a couple of Museum events. Today we open the first of our "A Special Season" of six temporary exhibits. Because of construction, we felt a need to keep value high for our visitors. We did not raise rates this year as we might have (due to construction; still the same for a third straight year), but as the building going up is replacing one that held most of our changing exhibits, we thought we should provide something 'extra' this year.

Collections Manager Laura and her mini-army of volunteers have put together four 'permanent' exhibits in the Headquarters foyer and today we unveil When Grandma & Grandpa Were Kids: Children's Clothing from 1875-194. It's pretty cool to see ... one section features a variety of underwear, including a small-scale set of back-flap long-handles. Elsewhere are christening gowns and ... yep ... a boy's dress. I'm told in the long ago, young boys wore such things before their first pair of short pants. Who knew? There's some children's toys that are of interest, too, including a miniature washing machine of the hand-powered variety and a pair of spring shoes, sort of like a pogo stick without the stick for each foot. Seeing is believing. There is also a parasol-covered wicker pram that is a must see!

On Sunday you can chat up Walla Walla's first mayor, E.B. Whitman, as portrayed by local attorney Dan Clark. The Living History performance is preceeded by 19th century popular music played by the Museum's own Oregon Trail Band. The OTB recently acquired themselves a pump organ, though I'm not sure know they have anyone to play it yet ... are YOU interested?

The Museum is open 10 am - 5 pm daily, including weekends and holidays. The Oregon Trail Band plays at 1:30 pm and ol' E.B Whitman strides through almost 150 years of history in a return to the community over which he once presided. Be sure to ask him what he thinks of all the changes in that time!

Today's photos include Dan as E.B Whitman at the Museum's Union Schoolhouse, the back-flap long-handles and wicker pram in When Grandma & Grandpa Were Kids, and the the 2008 edition of the Oregon Trail Band. This weekend, call your friends and tell 'em "Meet me at the Museum!"

Good for the Gander and all those Geese

I received a note last week from Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reporter Sheila Hagar asking a number of us in the non-profit field for instances and stories about how we are turning bad times into coping experiences. That's not too tough for Fort Walla Walla Museum, as we tend to look at things in their historical perspective. We, as a community, have always ... always ... managed to cope with economic down turns. There's a wonderful story from the Great Depression about the head of the local YMCA accepting 'bindlestiffs' (we'd call them homeless today) in to sleep on the floor of the Y's gym. We look to see that our neighbors are alright, do what we can for ourselves, and do what we must until things turn around again. That's a comforting thought: this too shall pass. The general values the community shares will see us through these tough straits, too.

Our on-going building project is an example of doing the right thing for the community. While we are still actively seeking support for portions of the project that remain unfunded (call 509.525.7703 if you'd like to help), we did accumulate enough to make a good start on our new Entrance Building. Now that we're underway, you can see the benefits. The other day I counted 14 construction workers busily earning their next paychecks. There are plumbers, electricians, concrete workers, excavators, equipment operators and other people associated with the building trades.

That's a nice thing to see. Most of the guys are likely to have families and you can be sure those folks appreciate the income, too. The merchants where they shop are happy to have customers and the taxes generated from all that money passing through the community helps support our police and fire fighters, parks, government, and more. I understand each dollar turns over about eight times before it 'disappears' into the system.

Not bad for your friendly, neighborhood not-for-profit heritage museum, si? Today's pics feature the construction gang at work. One of the images shows a stack of lumber that means we'll be going distinctly vertical very soon. Another shows the black pipes coming up from the ground ... that's where the new restrooms will be. By the way, there will be another outdoor-access restroom for Fort Walla Walla Park users during hours when the museum is closed to visitation.

Fruit of the Vine

Some of our favorite volunteers visited us yesterday, at the same time marking what surely, finally must be the onset of spring. These are the Oenology & Viticulture students at Walla Walla Community College.

For the past several years, they've come out a few times each year to prune our Black Prince/Cinseault grapes planted back in the 1990s by winemaker of note Berle 'Rusty' Figgins. Rusty comes by his talent honestly: his maternal grandfather was Francesco Leonetti, whose name adorns one of the appellation's finest wineries. Our vineyard is an interesting project for the kids in that we do not trellis our vines, like you see all across the valley these days. Instead, we manage them the way an earlier age did it, known as 'stake trained' or 'bush trained.' The center is pruned out, allowing sunlight to reach all the remaining branches and grapes. In the 'old days,' this was by far the least expensive way of producing a crop.

In today's photos you can see our groundsman Jim (in his ever-present ball cap) speaking with Billo who heads up the viticulture program, as well as a number of the students participating in the spring tune-up for the vineyard. It's a great piece of work they do on our behalf, much appreciated and really makes for an interesting experience for our visitors. By the way, the grapes are delicious!

The Women in our Lives

Don, our Operations Manager, is involved with a whole lot of things. He is in charge of the Store operations, our volunteer coordinator, program development, business sponsor program, events director and likely a number of other things not coming immediately to mind. He is among the hardest working, best organized people I've known in a lifetime of work. He's the "lone stranger" in today's photos.

Along with Don, I'm helping to develop our Women's History Day (August 23) into something beyond its original origins as a Living History program. We are hoping that a young woman of immense talent we know will provide some musical entertainment that day and I just got off the phone with a prominent women's history author whom we hope to bring to the event as a speaker as well as a book-signer. A fascinating conversation!

March is Women's History Month, but as Fort Walla Walla Museum is not open to visitation that month, it is difficult to create a proram at that time. Perhaps in the future when we can call ourtselves a year 'round museum that will change. We choose August for our event in order to call attention to Women's Equality Day August 26, established in 1971 by Rep. Bella Abzug. The day is in honor of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution guaranteeing American women the right to vote.

The core of the day is to highlight the women in our Living History Company and have them tell of womens' lives from the eras their characters lived in. In past years we've featured the wife of the community's first mayor, an Indian woman who was among the first women to own property in this region (let alone among the first Indian people to do so), a leading suffragist, a former slave, and pioneer women of many backgrounds. Last year we featured one of the more enterprising businesswomen of her day, Josphine 'Dutch Jo' Wolfe, operator of an upscale bordello in early Walla Walla.

The Museum alters its usual rates of admission for the day; all girls 12 and under receive free admission and all adult women pay 77% of the going rates as a reflection of the disparity in men's and women's wages that still persists today. We also supply the lemonade and cookies ... pioneer women would always entertain in that fashion when receiving guests.

Communing with the Past

If you saw Friday evening's Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, welcome to FWWMworld blog! If that's the reason you're checking in today, then I'm doing my job pretty well. As Fort Walla Walla Museum's Communication's Manager, it's my duty to get the word out about all that goes on at the Museum.

To be sure, this is a great deal of fun. I'm a writer by trade, so cranking out news releases is something where I get paid to do that which I love. I also get to design the ads we run in several publications, something that took a bit of training in certain softwares, but also allows me to take my photography to new levels. We feel that ads featuring people are far more interesting than those that don't. In a world crammed with messages that require reading skills, fitting the Museum into someone's view-finder is a hard-to-master trick.

My standard of reference is a trip to the grocer's. There are things in the parking lot to grab your attention; signage on the floor; a blizzard of signs hanging from shelves, racks, and bins; signs sticking out from the shelves that impede two-way traffice in the aisles; and signs with flashing lights. A narrow passageway at the check-out is crammed with eye-catching non-essentials and even in-store messaging can be heard to distract you from your errand. That's a lot of competition for your neighborhood not-for-profit corner museum and it's everywhere we go.

Fortunately, you can leave all that behind when you vist the Museum. An hour or two in our pioneer settlement is to be transported back to a more genteel age. Hurrying won't get you there any quicker, the senses aren't constantly assaulted with a commercial blitz, and a chat with a friend makes time almost stand still. This is something you can't get many places anymore and while it comes with a price tag, the price hasn't changed in several years.

Do yourself a favor ... take a break from the rat race and catch up with your roots. Finding out about the legacy the community has inherited from the past is a great bonding experience for you and the kids or grandkids, out-of-town visitors, the next door neighbor ... even your in-laws. It's an experience you'll long treasure.

The Land is Green and We Make It Grow

Spring is finally a-bloom in Walla Walla this year after what seemed an interminably long, drawn out winter. We've had a fair amount of 60-degree days and even a couple approaching 80F. Currently the fruit trees are sending out their fragrant blooms, the first tulips are up as the daffodils and hyacinth begin to fade, and the forsythia are absolutely radiant. It is the best time of year to visit Walla Walla.

When you do, make it a point to take in the floral glories of Fort Walla Walla Museum. Between Jim, our multi-talented groundsman, and a slew of dedicated volunteers, a gardener's paradise is created every year. Gardens abound at the Museum and some serve as horticultural displays in support of Museum exhibits.

The Italian Herb Garden and the Black Prince* (also known as Cinseault) vineyard exist to help define the Saturno Italian Farmstead. The apple trees near the pioneer settlement help tell the importance of fruit farming in the pioneer era. If you know the wonderful Ritz Mansion on Plaza Way near the Country Club, you might be interested in knowing that Phillip Ritz was an early orchardist in the region. The Blalock Addition of College Place and Walla Walla was first the Blalock Orchards ... Spitzenberg (an apple variety) Street still hints at those origins.

The rest of the Museum's gardens exist to delight the eyes and nose. Throughout our season, new plants bloom and thrive making a stroll through the grounds a very pleasant experience. Of special worth are the dahlias Jim (that's Jim planting a tree above) grows each fall near the entrance and Store. These giant flowers are amazing and worth the trip by themselves.

*while the Museum's grapes are not used to make the wine, a local vintner (Morrison Lane in downtown Walla Walla) produces a varietal from locally-grown grapes.

Hoo-Rah and Up She Rises!

Much of the staff ... Jim, Anne, Don, and myself ... arrive before 8:00 am each weekday to get underway. Early birds, to be sure, but these days we're Johnnies-come-lateley. Every morning the construction gang is already here and hard at work.

It's a sight to see. The first thing most of us notice is the "missing" building. The view to the VA off in the east seems much closer than it did when Exhibit Hall 1 was in place. Soon, the current view will be blocked by the ever-progressing new structure, but we're cognizant of the fact that this will become the view when the Entrance building is completed. The VA, of course, is on the grounds of the old military Fort Walla Walla, the cornerstone of the commmunity's development. That connection with our heritage ... and namesake ... is an intereting and desirable thing for us.

The construction guys are pouring footings and walls and doing things with machines I can't even describe, let alone know what their called. We're just aware that progress is on the march and we couldn't be happier. We invite you to share the happiness with us ... come on out and check the construction for yourself ... my grandson in Portland, Nikos, would dearly love to see the big earth-moving equipment at work. We're still actively fundraising for the project and we'd love it if you shared that with us, too. Call the Museum at 509.525.7703 to see how you can help.