From Near and Far

After our first day of operations this year, we are pleased to report that attendance is up 10% from last year! That's a trend we hope continues throughout the season. We had several visitors from Seattle and Tacoma arrive yestreday, as well as folks from La Grande, Oregon. Our first visitors of the day were from Vancouver, WA and timed their visit to April 1 for our opening.

That's two states down, 48 to go. In my memory, we have never missed our unofficial goal of all 50 states; that might go back a dozen years or more at this point. A couple of years ago, we hit that goal in mid-June, though it's usually September, even October, before we log the final state. The toughest one to record is Rhode Island, a low-population state nearly as far from here as possible.

I also had email yesterday from Jørn in Denmark who'd visited us last year, purchased a quilt-raffle ticket and wondered who won the draw (Rosemary Kenney of Portland, OR was our winner; that's her with the prize). We typically receive visitors from more than 30 foreign countries in a season, though last year that number was 42. Amazing! Imagine traveling halfway across the world to take in the heritage we have right in our own backyard. Pictured here are Marc-Thomas and Urte with their son Nicholas (a family from Germany) at the Jacky play cabin and a group of visiting highschool kids from our sister city, Sasayama, Japan.

Most of our visitors come from 'the neighborhood,' Washington, Oregon, and Idaho followed by California and Montana. We receive many of the rest of the states courtesy of the "boat people," those Columbia River cruise tourists who get bussed here from the docks in the Tri-Cities. They tend to be active retirees who are intensely interested in all facets of life. Like all of us, they love to share the interesting things about their home towns, what they've done along life's road, and what they are doing sailing up the Columbia River. You can see the bus they arrive on ... that looks like a pretty comfortable ride!

It's one of the best things about museum life ... we get to meet the neatest people! I also think that's one of the biggest draws for those who volunteer here, the chance to share our wonderful community with so many people, an average of about 25,000 annually over the past decade.