A busy fall lies ahead at your county museum

By Pat Mulso

A special thank you to all who attended Echoes From the Past: A Journey Into History on Aug. 16 at Graceland Cemetery.

We had our best turnout ever!

A special thank you to David Paschka for coordinating the event, to Tom Ehrhardt for representing Graceland Cemetery, our actors &045; Rosalie Truax as Elizabeth Colby Peck, G. Douglas Ruble as Fred Simon Ruble, Sue Jorgensen as Theodora Soth Paulson, Gary Schindler as August Geissler, Val Forsythe as Sara Anne Sorenson Hellie and Bill Morris as Julius Edwin Fitch. Our admission workers were Kelly Schultz, Kathy Jordahl and Carol Bertelson.

Refreshments were provided and served by Terry and Laurie Cochran. The behind the scenes workers included Linda Evenson, Jennifer Rogers, Louis Henderson, Dave Frame, Robert Anderson and Arnie Mulso. And a very special thank you to Thrivent Financial for supplemental funding.

We&8217;ve had a busy year at the museum with all of the Sesquicentennial monthly themes being highlighted in our Heritage Hall each month, all of our regular events and a few new ones added here and there.

And right around the corner is our largest event of the year, Autumn in the Village.

Please mark your calendars now for Sunday, Sept. 17 from noon to 4 p.m. when the village at the museum will come to life, it&8217;s a day you won&8217;t want to miss. Watch for my article on Sept. 10 that will give you details of all of the events for Autumn in the Village.

School will be starting soon and on that note we will be preparing for Discover History research with Jim Haney&8217;s 11th grade humanities classes and preparing for the fifth- grade classes of several local schools to enjoy hands on learning experience where history literally comes to life right here at our local museum.

It is a great learning experience for not only the 11th-graders, but for the fifth-graders as well.

Please stop out to the museum before the end of the month to see our display in Heritage Hall of the churches, past and present in Albert Lea as we celebrate Faith month.

And while your there, be sure to visit the church in the village.

One of the local Red Hat groups had a garden party in the village this month. It was a lovely day and a lovely setting for a luncheon.

Remember to check with us if you are looking for a location for a special event.

As Freeborn County Historical Museum prepares their budget for 2007 we want you to know that we have trimmed our budget for next year by over $12,000 from the 2006 budget that was set in 2005. To help us meet this budget we are asking that if you are a current member, that you would send in your renewal membership for 2007 between now and the end of September and that will save us a considerable amount of paper, printing, envelopes and postage. (Our membership renewal letters usually are mailed out in October.)

If you are not currently a member, there is no better time than now to join!

If you send in your membership now, you receive membership benefits for the rest of 2006 and 2007.

Any donation above $25 is tax deductible. Memberships range from $25, $50, $100, $250, $500 to $1,000.

What a great gift for the family and they can enjoy it all year long.

Please consider becoming a member and help preserve the history of our county, your county &8230; for generation to come &045; help us &045;To Build the Future By Preserving The Past!

(Pat Mulso is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum.)