What Grows Around, Comes Around

Agriculture has been the region's economic mainstay for almost as long as anyone has been writing about the region. If history is defined (narrowly) as the written record, then we begin our saga with Lewis & Clark. Not much agriculture can be expected of travelers, but the next Euro-Americans to follow, the fur traders, were assigned the task of procuring their own food. When the powers that be declared the boys at Fort Nez perces/Fort Walla Walla at the mouth of the Walla Walla River were a little too profligate with their trading with local Indian pople, they received orders feed themselves ... how about a garden?

Some of the Hudson's Bay Company men took Indian wives and retired in the region, building cabins in the area called Frenchtown just west of where Walla Walla is today. Among the crops they grew were grapes for wine making, according to local historian Sam Pambrun, whose family roots go back that far.

The missionaries of the region were perhaps the first commercial farmers, though it's hard to imagine the HBC chaps not trading their produce for something. Marcus & Narcissa Whitman actively sold crops to pioneers from the Oregon Trail. That enterprise ended rather abruptly in 1847, maybe the only time agriculture failed to make a go of it around here.

Following the Indian Wars of the 1850s, the US Army moved in to the neighborhood. Feeding the troops and their horses was an opportunity to make a buck and a few hardy souls ventured into the region to do that. The Army kept a hay ranch in the foothillls of the Blue Mountains (up from Dixie, WA, if I recall correctly) to feed their horses in the winter. It was the Fort that attracted ever more farmers to the region, as well as the near-holy growing conditions.

As gold was discovered up on the Colville, Orofino, and the Boise Basin, and with the Army here to keep the peace, agriculture began to bloom. Nurserymen and orchardists began to ply their trades and wheat was becoming increasingly important. Sleepy little 'Steptoeville,' the community growing around the cantonment at Mill Creek crossing where what is now First & Main Streets downtown, officially became Walla Walla 150 years ago.

Soon, wheat became 'king.' Thereafter, other crops became important like asparagus, peas, and onions, and a major cannery industry grew up. Commercial orchards were next in line. Now we have wine grapes, so perhaps we've come full circle. The Fort outlived its usefulness, but the VA medical facility is still a major employer in town, sharing the grounds of the former military reservation with us and the other entities of Fort Walla Walla Park.

Ah, grapes ... and the wine they produce. This region is unvelievably blessed when it comes to producing deep red wines like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. For those who imbibe, an opportunity to support the Museum has come to fruition that involves the tipping of a glass, or, at least, the purchase of a bottle. Fort Walla Walla Cellars is offering a special limited release of its 2006 Walla Walla Valley Merlot for just $32/bottle (plus tax). 30% of the retail price will be donated to Museum operations. Wine Spectator magazine has awarded a 90-point rating to this varietal, making it well worth your time and the price. I tasted it yesterday ... it's really good! The tasting room where you may purchase the wine is located at the corner of Main and Spokane Streets in the heart of downtown.

Today's pics include some gents from the Italian Heritage Association harvesting the Museum's vineyard a few years ago for IHA's annual 'Grape Stomp' -they picked about 300#s that year; a photo of the Black Prince (aka 'Cinseault") grapes from our vineyard... they make good wine and great table grapes; an image of the 1820s era Hudson's Bay Company Fort Walla Walla (once described as 'the Gibraltar of the Columbia') that is is Fort Walla Walla Cellars logo; a bottle of Cliff Kontos & Jim Moyer's wine; and an urban wheat wheat harvest, across the street from the Museum, as seen from our vineyard last year ... that may be the last harvest from that location as development ... a.k.a. progress ... is occurring.

All Over the World!

Saturday was Farmer's Market Day and for those in the know, it was a perfect day to either be a Walla Wallan or to be visiting here. The best the community has to offer was on display and for little to no expense.

The Balloon Stampede offered up more than a dozen hot air balloons into a clear blue sky. Watching costs nothing! If you were up early enough to take that in, then a trip downtown to the Farmer's Market was also in order. There is no expense to that outing, either, unless you choose to buy early season vegetable like asparagus and 'salad' onions, or feed yourself on omelets, bbq, Italian fare, bakery, and more, or feed your soul on the music offered up (for free!) at the corner of Main & 4th (catty corner from the historic Dacres Hotel, the site of the Stine Hotel, once-largest brick hotel in all the region outside San Francisco).

It was a fabulous sunny day at the Market and people turned out in droves to enjoy the weather, each other, and the friendly ambience that has developed there. It's my job to pass out '$1 Off for All Adults in Party' coupons, so that as many people as want to can enjoy Fort Walla Walla Museum. By 1:00 pm when the Market generally begins shutting down, there were still 100s of people in the area. In all, I distributed 261 passes ... by my reckoning, that involves meeting close to 800 people. My pal Don, our Operations Manager at the Museum told me Sunday that we'd received quite a few passes back already, as well as similar coupons passed out by our volunteers at the Balloon Stampede. Cool! While we need to turn a dime to pay for all that the Museum offers, it should never be the cost that keeps people from a visit. I'm pleased we can make it so easy.

To that end, we give out quite a few free passes during the year, too. We partner with the schools to make sure that kids from economically challenged families get a view of their heritage. We also contribute free passes to a cross section of the community's social agencies like YWCA, Christian Aid Society, Children's Home Society, and more.

Underlying all this is the belief that people who are connected to the community's heritage make better citizens ... imagine voting without knowing the roots of this or any community: the past is our only roadmap to the future. When we include the community's children, we're talking about tomorrow's leaders--we'd like them to be fully versed in what makes the town tick, right? And for the many kids who arrived only recently with their families, this is their heritage, too. When you live here, you get to stake a claim in the past, because what we are today is what has been building for generations.

BTW, I met a couple from the UK, as they called it, home being "north of London a bit." I also noted in our guest register book that we'd received visitors at the Museum from 17 states and two countries in the first week of May ... isn't that astounding? People come from all over the world just to see what we keep in our backyard!

On the construction front, the crew brought in a giant crane Friday and began moving roof trusses from outside the security fence to inside the growing structure. It's my guess that we'll see the trusses going up this week, another benchmark to be noted along the way to completion of our new Entrance. I missed getting a crane pic, but won't miss out on the roof going up!

Today's photos are from the Farmers' Market on Saturday. The boy pictured is attempting to make the 'Jacob's Ladder' toy work. The simple device is an engineering marvel. The toys we bring to such venues are truly 'kid magnets;' I like to tell them that these are the "Game Boys" of the 1880s. They offer great hand-eye coordination development, as well as 'small-motor skills' development. The second picture shows why we celebrate Mother's Day.

Yonder Stampedes the Balloons!

Look! Up in the sky! Today is the opening of Walla Walla's 35th annual Balloon Stampede and a more glorious morning for it is hard to imagine. Crystal clear blue skies are the order of the day and if the breeze dies down just a little, the heavens will fill with an almost science-fiction looking display. In years past, I've witnessed nearly two dozen balloons up at the same time.

The Stampede has been a Walla Walla institutiuon for a long time now and Fort Walla Walla Museum will have a presence there. It's another outreach opportunity for us to be in the community, instead of sitting back on our heels waiting for the community to come to us. As people come to town for this event from near and far, we can put into practice our plan for the year: let's entice those folks who are already here to visit the Museum.

I'll be at the Farmer's Market again on Saturday, so come on down before you head out to the Fairgrounds for the Stampede ... you can enjoy all of the best that Wallla Walla has to offer this weekend when you roll a Museum visit with Sunday's Living History performance into your activities list. Walla Walla County Court Services Supervior Mike Bates portrays Legendary mountain man and US Marshal Joe Meek at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.

What a grand weekend!

Today's pictures feature an image of mountain man Joe Meek courtesy of Michael Schaub's "Malachite's Big Hole," Mike Bates portraying Joe Meek as a US Marshall at the Museum's Precott Jail, and Jerry Cummins' hot air balloon at a recent museum event.

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.

Snow, man!

Snow?!? Waking up yesterday was a bit of a shock. Having moved here from Montana nearly a dozen years ago, snow in March was hardly unusual ... nor is April or even May blizzards. In the years I lived in that state, I saw it snow on every major holiday. But a late March snow in Walla Walla seems like something our grandparents would have referred to from the 'old days.'

Snow or rain (but not gloom of night), Museum work continues. Each year we take a day to shoot new photos of our Living History participants so that they'll look fresh in newspaper articles, web site postings, and wherever else they might appear. In the past, we did the shoot in late February and it seemed that more often than not we were dodging cold rain or snow flurries under an overcast sky that was hardly repesentative of local weather during the bulk of our season. We try hard to portray the community in its best light (no pun intended), knowing that our many guests from 'the wet side' travel this far to enjoy dry, sunny weather. Shooting in the gloom largely defeats that purpose.

This year we pushed picture day back a month to try to take advantage of better weather. Saturday's day-long rain and Sunday's snow nearly doused that hope, but by Sunday afternoon the clouds parted and things had warmed up. A goodly number of the Company arrived for group and individual portraits, including Chloe, the first kid we've seen in the Company for awhile. All dressed up in 'Sunday-go-to-Meetin' pioneer garb, she was quite a lovely sight.

Today is gloriously sunny ... out my office window I can see the farthest windmills on the ridge west of town, even see the blades rotating. That means its quite clear today, so let's all get out when we can and enjoy as much of the day as possible. It's Spring Break for Washington School kids and teachers and the Museum opens April 1 for visitation. Looks like a good opportunity to have a little family fun at Fort Walla Walla Museum!

Volunteer Day

Tomorrow is the day Fort Walla Walla Museum hosts its annual volunteer orientation meeting. The Museum survives (really) because of the efforts of more than 400 volunteers ... we truly could not do all that we do without their many, varied and wonderful talents. A number of those volunteers are once-a-year participants in our special events. Last year we had nearly 100 historical re-enactors at Fort Walla Walla Days. Day to day in the season, we use the services of a smaller but tremendously dedcated group of about 90 folks.

Esther, Barb, & Sally help with the textile collection, both in terms of curation and maintenance, but also in developing and creating exhibits. Helen helps us with exhibits, particularly in posterboard-mounting the text and images visitors see. Vi heps with the gardening, as a Store Assistant, Tour Docent, and keeping my paper files from devouring my office. Millie is a mainstay among the Building Attendants. Steve, like Vi, is a jack-of-many-trades helping with collections and exhibits and as a Tour Docent. A Touchet-area family has helped us garden in recent years, all four showing up to lend a hand. The list is a long one and no one is left out who wishes to participate.

On Friday we hosted a group of 20 or so young people from AmeriCorps. Each of them is required to come up with a service project and Patrick chose the Museum as a place to assist (his gal-pal Emily is the young woman, also a volunteer, you can see signing the Pledge of Allegiance through the Volunteer page on our web site: www.fortwallawallamuseum.org/volunteer.htm ). These folks helped primarily with the myriad chores of cleaning the pioneer village in preparation for visitation season, now just 8 days away. Their sheer numbers make light work of an otherwise immense project for Laura, our already heavily taxed Collections Manager.

If you're interested in giving back to the community, sharing oour wonderful community with vistors from across the country and around the world, or if you just like hanging out with like-minded folks having a good time, then come on over at 10 am Wednesday morning. The coffee pot will be on and somebody always brings cookies!

Here We Go!

Here we go!! We are finally underway with our Museum expansion project ... demolition of Exhibit Hall 1 was accomplished yesterday. After years of planning, months of fundraising ... followed with what seemed interminable waiting, the project got a grand beginning. Exhibit Hall 1 is the oldest of our formerly five display buildings and nearing the end of its 'life expectancy.' Nevertheless, it proved remarkably resiliant beneath the force of pneumatic power. As the Museum takes a step into the future, we can assume Carl Penner and others among our founders would be applauding along side the rest of us.

As I stood out in the cold drizzle to record the event, I coouldn't help but ponder the nature of reality: from destruction comes life ... the plant kingdom is fully aware of that maxim and it seems to apply to our situation, too. The new Entrance building will largely cover the footprint of Exhibit Hall 1. To take it a step further, nearly 95% of the old structure has been/will be re-used or recycled. Much of the concrete will be crushed for aggregate in the new building ... we are truly building on a foundation provided by our own 'pioneer forebearers.' More than 300 2 x4s were removed for future use and seemingly acres of strand board were salvaged. Much of the insulation was offered to interested parties. Even the two steel doors were rescued and donated to a local church.

Today a crew is hauling away the detritus. Soon we shall see the beginnings of the Museum's future rise Phoenix-like from the same location.. We'll keep you posted.

Helping Hand for New Exhibit

Much of import happened while I was away yesterday! Fort Walla Walla Museum plies the grants market several times each year and we were rewarded with an announcement that one of those 'asks' had been acknowledged. It was a national-level grant that will help us move forward with some of the inside, visitor-visible aspects of Phase I construction.

Exhibit Hall I was emptied of all its various and sundry trasures over the winter and will soon be demolished (maybe starting today?). Among the exhibits housed in it was our life-size Lewis & Clark diorama. The scene depicted involved three mannequins representing Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Yellept, a headman of the Wallah Wallah people. They are in the midst of a gift exchange, Cap't. Clark's military saber for Yellept's "eligant white horse," as it was described in the journals. Behind it stood a mural representing Wallula Gap, just south of where the Walla Walla River enters the Columbia. Much of that exhibit was re-displayed in our Headquarters for this season, but we had to bid adieu to the mural.

In the new Entrance building about to arise phoenix-like from the demolished Exhibit Hall I, the diorama will be re-created. We have had preliminary discussion with a local artist of renown and acclaim to produce a new mural with seasonal coloring more appropriate to the actual time frame depicted, as well as a new view of the Gap from the far bank of the Columbia River where stood Yellept's village. As a whole, the scene will be more historically accurate, and colorwise, more pleaseing to the eye. Thanks to the new grant, we shall be able to proceed with the plan.

Stay tuned! Big things are under way!!

Outreach ... A Great Way to Listen

Community outreach ... we do a lot of that around Fort Walla Walla Museum. It seems like everyday one or the other of us is making a presentation, repesenting the Museum at a meeting, or generally being out and about in the area. It was my turn today as a participant in the local newspaper's, The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, (http://www.union-bulletin.com/) community board.

A dozen or so of us show up at 7:00 in the morning to coffee, donuts, and interesting conversation. While the talk mainly centers around the function of the paper, it spreads effortlessly into the role of the paper in the community. It's an interesting cross section of the community that participates, along with a handful of U-B employees ... this time including about-to-be new publisher Rob Blethen. There's a representative from local tourism interests, the Sweet Onion Festival folks, a school teacher, a retired judge, a retired doctor and others from around the community. A pretty representative group

Others of the Museum staff sit on the local Parks & Rec Advisory Board, the local Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, a nearby county's cemetery board, Tourism Walla Walla, and a host of other heritage-related groups. It's good for us to get out and give back to the community that's been so generous to us. It also keeps us from talking in an 'echo chamber,' that kind of self-referentialism that happens when outside viewpoints fail to enter a discussion. We like to think we provide a service to the community, but if no one takes advantage of that service, it's time to change direction, right? So far, the listening has paid off ... I think we're on the right track.

Hob-nobbing with My Fellow Museumistas

This may be the coolest job ever ... I know it's the coolest job I've ever had. I get to meet all kinds of people from all over the world, spend a lot of my time writing about things I know and care about, and put almost everything I've ever learned and done to use at a worthy enterprise.

Last year at this time I had a hand in organizing the regional museums into what hs become known as "The Blue Mountain and Columbia Basin Museum Cooperative." We exist to cross-promote one another, back-up a sister institute in the event of an emergency, and generally serve as a source of information. Hangin' out with my peers is especially cool because they are so interesting. We run new ideas past each other, communicate about big ideas and small, proof each other's work ... on and on and on. Not long ago, I referred one member seeking information about the 'Blalock Flume' (that's him in the photo) to another I knew had that information.

There are all kinds of organziations in the co-op: not-for-profits, house museums, a tribal cultural insititute, a for-profit tour company organizations with no place (yet) and a place with no organization (anymore) ... take your pick, there are 20-something of us. You can download our brochure from Fort Walla Walla Museum's web site: http://www.fortwallawallamuseum.org/area_museums.htm just scroll to the bottom of the page. The map side of the brochure is posted here for you to see.

Do you recall the scene in The Wizard of Oz near the end when the Wizard is about to leave Oz in his "Omaha State Fair" hot air balloon? He tells the denizens of the Emerald City that he's going off to "hob nob with my flellow wizards." I feel like that today ... our biennial meeting is being held today at the Franklin County Hisotrical Society Museum in the Tri-Cities. I'll be rubbing elbows with some of the best!

We started our day out here at the Museum much like our pioneer ancestry did ... without computer connectivity. Like them, we are still subject to the whims of Mother Nature. It appears lighning took out our ISP's hardware up in the Blue Mountains.

Faced with that, we began work the old-fashined way ... by talking, and then by hand. By 11:00 or so, the system had come back on ... much sooner than anticipated ... and we were left to ponder the vagaries of modern technology, yet how pervasive (and necessary) they are to our daily lives.

Wouldn't the pioneers be amazed at what we can do? They might also be amazed at how few folks, comparativley, are involved in putting food on the table.

Enjoy the 'then and now' photos of regional agriculture.

Kids at the Museum

We love kids at Fort Walla Walla Museum! We have an admission-free School Tour Program that offers kids, their teachers, and schools an opportunity to walk through the past. Walla Walla wasn't always a sleepy little town at the end of the trail, but was something of a big deal, leading to the long-standing claim of 'Cradle of Northwest History.' The program attracts about, 5,000 participants each year and receives some generous corporate sponsorship from Boise, Inc.'s Wallula Mill, Pacific Power Foundation, and others.

We see lots of other young folks in the course of a year, too. From babies in backpacks, to toddlers in strollers, and schools kids all the way through their high school years, as well as some college students. Some of the latter have been among our most vibrant, active volunteers, putting the lie to "What's the matter with today's kids?" Well, not much in our view ... they are active in the community and already giving back of their own time. That makes us feel pretty good about the long-term prospects of preserving our heritage.

Today's blog is a salute to those wonderful young folks whose energy we envy and direction we try to quietly mentor. There may be problems in the world, but 'our' kids aren't among them. We think kids who make contact with their community's heritage are much better equipped to help make the decisions about a community's future.

Grandparents

Grandparents and grandchildren ... is there a more wonderful bond that exists in the world? Grandparents often are beyond the angst of child-rearing and the duties of discipline that fall more heavily on parents. Children get a little more freedom, but are still under the auspices of caring adults. For kids, the concept of their parents' parents is wonderful to explore ... "these are the people who knew my mom when she was my age."

We see lots of grandparent-grandchildren visitors at Fort Walla Walla Museum and we try to do our part to encourage that. The concept of the wisdom of elders being shared with a new generation is the foundation of human progress. On Grandparents Day, Sunday, September 13, the Museum offers free admission to all children under 12 who arrive with one or more grandparent. Day in/day out, the Museum offers a senior discount at $6 for those 62 and above and charges kids 6-12 just $3; kids under 6 get in free.

It's important for kids to know that many things they take for granted requires a lot of hands-on labor. Food doesn't magically arrive at the store, nor do their toys and clothes. Being able to equate their labor with productivity is a good way to ensure that things keep rollin' along the way they ought to.

Don't wait for a special occasion. We all know that parents are frightfully busy these days, so if you have an afternoon, grab your young ones and bring 'em out to the Museum. It's educational, it's fun, and it's a wonderful way to show those special kids how much you care about them.

Living, Breathing History

At Fort Walla Walla Museum, saying 'history comes alive' has some meaning. Each weekend (every Sunday, plus Saturdays June through August) during the season, you can experience more than 40 Living History performances. Some involve just one person, often telling of the past through an ancestor's eyes. Others are accomplished with two or three performers, and a some involve quite a few folks.

Most, but not all, of the characters portrayed lived in the 19th century. The 'rules' are that none of the performers has yet passed on, and are somewhat mystified as to how they 'travel through time' to be with the audience. Using 'talking sticks' to amplify their voices is technology beyond their ken.

Keeping in character is also one of the rules. Opinions on modern topics are not possible from those who lived 100 years or more in the past. It does, however, make you wonder what a real time traveler might think of modern ways of doing things or, better yet, how similar problems today were solved in the past.

All programs begin at 2:00 pm in the Museum's pioneer settlement. On the first and thrid Sundays of each month in the April through October visitation season, patrons can enjoy popular 19th century music with the Museum's own 'Oregon Trail Band.' The program has been described as a '40-course class in regional history.' I don't know about that, but the characters are always genuine, engaging, and ready to answer your questions. Oh, yes ... they're a lot of fun, too. A full schedule of programs can be found at www.fortwallawallamuseum.org/living_history.htm Come on out ... this ain't your high school history class!