July and we are having fun!

It has been awhile since my last post, but don't think I've been taking it easy.  We hosted narrow and standard gauge railroad author, historian, and lecturer Bruce MacGregor, who shared the history of the narrow gauge railroad's birth in our valley and how it impacted the type and growth of businesses, changed the lives of people who decided to make San Lorenzo Valley their home, and made our valley a tourist destination by providing a fast and easy way to visit.  What a great time in historic Park Hall in Ben Lomond.  We were lucky to get copies of just published 'Santa Cruz Trains' by author Derek Whaley, who pushed through our order so we could have his book on hand.  I sold out of every copy and had to handle pre-sales.  Now our bookstore is well stocked with 'Santa Cruz Trains' for a gift or train enthusiast.

Our annual Dinner and Auction Fundraiser was lots of fun thanks to our hard-working and creative volunteers who handled the silent and live auctions.  Auctioneer 5th District Supervisor Bruce McPherson kept things lively and lots of fun, especially with the Chardonnay sailing trip, whale watching, 1-day survival class, and two night stay at luxurious Costanoa on the north coast that received lots of bids.  Bid cards popping up all over and friendly challenges back and forth made it a memorable night for everyone.

As I was starting to promote our next historical talk about Pogonip I was asked what Pogonip stood for.  I've heard different explanations of this  unusual name, but never anything definite.  This will be just one question addressed at our upcoming historical talk on Sun, July 26th.  We will be having two speakers sharing the long (going back to the Native Americans) and very diverse (auto camp, women's polo, lime kilns) history.  This is a story that most people think they know, but really don't.  I myself am eager to learn more about this area so close to our valley.  Bring your questions and expand your knowledge about our local history.

Bear With Us exhibit opening

What a great afternoon!  Sun, Feb 15th saw the museum filled with families checking out our latest exhibit about the history and stories of the black and grizzly bears that lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains and surrounding area from the 1700's to the present.  I had a great time pointing out the 'bear cave' to the children for them to crawl into - right in the middle of the museum, but their own private space with pillows to sit on, books, a mat, and a lantern.  Even a bear puppet to play with and have peak out of the cave!  I enjoyed welcoming many of our members who support the museum and attend every exhibit opening, bringing friends and spreading the word to stop by and visit.  We had two new memberships and book sales from the opening.  I talked with people who were interested in learning not only about bears, but also about the overall environment, the other animals that lived with the bears and provided a varied diet to the settlers making a life in San Lorenzo Valley.  People were reading the information panels, comparing their hand to the varied sizes of bear paws, and checking out the different animal traps from the museum's collection.  I had fun talking with so many visitors and hearing their feedback.  I also appreciated the many sponsors of this fun and educational exhibit.   They are listed on our website.

Volunteers make things happen

As Executive Director I am either completely responsible for some tasks or share the responsibility for other tasks, such as a committee member.  My success depends on volunteers who help me in every area that I am responsible for.  From my experience volunteers get involved with an organization for the following reasons: 1)because they like the feeling of giving back to their local community, 2) they feel the organization does good work and contributes to the quality of life of their local community, 3) they are curious about an organization and want to learn more about it on a more intimate level, 4) or they know someone who is already involved on some level with that organization and always speaks very positivity about it.  The bottom line is that volunteers volunteer for a wide range of reasons and the organization couldn't function without a foundation of volunteers with a broad range of skills and experience. 

At the San Lorenzo  Valley Museum we are in the need of volunteers.  I need help in the office with data entering of volunteer hours, sending out membership renewals, tracking bookstore sales, placing event announcements in the various media community calendars, distributing flyers around SLV, and just filing and answering the phone.  I keep getting told that it is easy to find volunteers, but what I have found out in the many years I have been an ED is that everyone loves to help AT an event, but few have time in their busy schedules to commit to a consistent schedule of 2 - 4 hours once or twice a week, 4 hours twice a month, etc.  I can provide training and assign a specific tasks IF I know a volunteer will be at the museum on a specific day for a certain length of time. Also, I am flexible with schedules.

I know that from people driving by the museum it seems like a tranquil place, nothing much happening.  What they don't see is how busy the museum is with working on a new exhibit opening, upcoming events, handling website transactions, data entering of membership renewals and donations information, getting mailings out, visitors stopping by, and a phone that is always ringing.   However, it is fun, rewarding, an eye-opener into our local history, and a feeling of satisfaction knowing you are giving back to YOUR community.  IF this sounds like something you want to get involved with, give me a call or email.  You'll find both on the website.

Successful BC Pizza & Pub Community Night

Wow! What a great night.  The community night sponsored by BC Pizza & Pub owner Justin Acton was packed with SLV locals supporting the SLV Museum.  Many ended up picking up their pizza + other goodies, like myself because of a husband who had knee surgery, and missed our own Lisa Robinson retelling the history of the building.  I'm told that everyone there really enjoyed the short, but very informative, history talk accompanying all the wonderful photos.  I've already heard from one person who was in a Nutcracker performance on the Dolan Theatre stage and used to sit in the projection booth to watch movies.  We have such a great history in our valley and each town, each building tells a story.

I was at the funeral service of Boulder Creek local Emily Ann Locatelli Cress last Monday at St. Micheal's church.  I saw so many people from different sections of our community, but theirs and Emily's paths crossed and left an impression.  She worked her entire life at Johnnie's Market starting when she was 14?.  She started working for Johnnie Montineri and then two more owners.  The changes she saw in the town, community, valley over her 80+ years. 

Another loss just a few days later was Boulder Creek local Jack Kuehl who was a local building contractor, BC Fire District Commissioner, and involved in many areas of our community.  His was a quite service at his home with just a few very close friends.

When we lose our friends we have a hole in our community that can never be quite filled because each one of us is unique.  We give something special to our 'community mix'.  When we volunteer we give back and engage with those who also chose to live in this area.  Those who pass on will be missed in many ways for a long time.

Our Opportunity to Honor Veterans

Veterans Day will be next month - November 11th.  We have several different days designated for honoring our military veterans and active duty personnel - Memorial Day, Pearl Harbor Day, Armistice Day, Spirit of '45, etc.  It can get confusing for those like me who don't grow up around military family members so I looked up the history of 'Veterans Day'.  What I found was:  World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”  Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls.  November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

The San Lorenzo Valley Museum noticed that there was no planned activity in our community to honor and thank our local veterans for their sacrifices.  Parades and cemetery visits were planned in other Santa Cruz County communities, but not here.  The Museum believes in collaboration and partnership so an evening with dinner, celebratory atmosphere, and  camaraderie with our local veterans was planned by local veterans and museum volunteers five years ago.  From that first event the feeling of appreciation, pride, and heart-felt thankfulness was felt by everyone and has continued each year up to this year's dinner.  The collaboration of veterans and museum volunteers has shown the community that this is a special evening for everyone to enjoy and share their memories, mementos, and themselves with each other.  We hope that our community joins us for this wonderful opportunity to say 'Thank You'.

Locals interested in local history

A few days ago I asked some of the SLV Museum's members and supporters to meet with me and have an open discussion about their community museum.   It was very heartwarming to hear how special they felt their valley was with history still alive and existing all around them.  They talked about how some communities have paved over their history with, many times, only 1 historic house being saved as an example of their history.   I hear over and over from people who live in SLV how they feel an ownership of the historic buildings and community and want to learn about their history, the ebb and flow of industries, individual businesses, and people who helped build the towns and valley into what it is today.  Lastly, the people meeting with me, and so many others who visit the museum, share that they are very interested in the history of their own homes and property - who lived there? how did those early owners use their property? how did they make a living?  how involved were they in their community?  How many people have lived there between the first and the current occupant?  So many intriguing questions and ones that the vast majority of homeowners never ask because they don't live in a community that has so much history surrounding them. 

If you are interested in the history of your property, there are some simple steps you can take to get started:
1.  Start with your property title deed.  Mine lists all the owners chronologically, any mineral rights sold to someone else, and right-a ways granted
2.  If your deed of title doesn't go back very far you can take the APN # and go to the Santa Cruz County Planning Dept and see if they have more information
3.  If you have the name(s) of early property owners you can check the archives of newspapers.  The Santa Cruz Public Library main branch downtown has copies of most of the early newspapers besides just the Santa Cruz Sentinel, such as the Santa Cruz Surf.
4.  Boulder Creek had a newspaper, The Mountain Echo, published from 1898 to 1916.  The main library has a subject index for The Mountain Echo that will give you information to save time in looking specific articles.

Getting Ready for Fall

Our summer was very busy at the SLV Museum with our Evening Lecture by historian Dr. Traci Bliss in May, our Annual June Fundraising Dinner & Auction, and ending with our Annual Community BBQ in July.  I want to thank the many volunteers who pitched in with all the details that make each of these events special, help each event operate so smoothly, and make it look easy.  Thank you!

Our Collections Manager Lisa Robinson designed another interesting and colorful artwork exhibition on the Community Wall at the Santa Cruz County Government Building for the month of August.  The artwork is from local artists and includes several different mediums, which adds to the 'feast for the eyes' in texture, color, size, subject, and interpretation of this year's theme, 'Valley of Vitality'.  If you missed it, it is on our website.

I am very excited to be announcing a new historical walk being lead by local historian Frank Perry along the old Rincon Road.  The walk will be along the old wagon road and Frank will be sharing many 'before and after' photos of areas along the walk.  This walk will be on Sun, Oct 5 and will be limited to 25 people so prior sign-ups are encouraged.  Call the museum at 831-338-8382 if interested.

As the Exec Director I either supervise, directly take care of, share duties with, or am keep in the loop of all day-to-day operations of the San Lorenzo Valley Museum.  This is a large and very broad area of responsibility and one that I could definitely use a volunteer to assist me with some of the tasks.  I am looking for someone who has some knowledge of Excel and Word, could commit to a minimum of 4 hours per week (W, Th, F) for several months to make training worthwhile, and is interested in supporting our mission.  Several previous volunteers have used their volunteer time on a job resume.  Please call the museum if you are interested. 

After our Annual Community BBQ

Our 11th Annual Community BBQ was last Sunday (July 20th).  This event is special because it was really begun close to 30 years ago when the original neighbors, friends, and families had the vision to start collecting Boulder Creek history at first, then expanded to all San Lorenzo Valley history.  They created the original Boulder Creek Historical Society and after much trial and error, finally opened the Boulder Creek Museum in a second-floor office space next to the Foster  Freeze.  I still have visitors who remember visiting that museum when they attended Boulder Creek Elementary.  As the years went by their Annual Oldtimers Picnic held in Bea Bushnell's shady front yard a block off Highway 9 was a chance for everyone to catch up, bring a dish to share, and have a few raffle items, like a sandwich at the Redwood Keg. 

Now the picnic is an all-valley BBQ with a historical presentation about our local history, horseshoes, sometimes music, but still some type of raising funds to keep the museum open and paying the recurring monthly bills.  Unfortunately many of those 'old-timers' are in assisted living or nursing facilities or have passed away, but still missed.  Is it time to change the type of activities held at this event?  and if so, in what ways?  Should there be a family-focused event instead?  If so, what would be the format that would also help raise funds to pay for our monthly operating expenses?  Should the horseshoes be their own separate activity? and a different event held at another time? 

I would like to get feedback from our community, from our event attendees and volunteers.  What would YOU like to see happening at the San Lorenzo Valley Museum? 

2014 Oral History Essay Contest Awards

I have just gotten back from the San Lorenzo Valley Middle School where an all-school assembly was held to recognize students' achievements.  I was so pleased to not only be included in this end-of-the-year school assembly, but I was first on the program.  I gave out two cash awards, both to 6th graders, who wrote on the theme of local people who either work or have a business in SLV as an extension of our Smithsonian exhibit, 'The Way We Worked'.  As part of my presentation I read a synopsis of each essay in front of the school student body, then called each winner up front to receive their check.  I was told that the presentation would be a surprise to the winners, who certainly received loud and long applause from their fellow students.  I also took the opportunity at the end of the presentation to encourage participation next year.   I really enjoyed being a part of one of our local school's activities and to recognize our youth's interest in the museum and preserving our local history.

Crystals, Caves, & Kilns exhibit

I always look forward to learning something new about our San Lorenzo Valley.  Sometimes when you hear a certain story repeated often, a certain historical person is discussed frequently, you wonder - - what is new to add to our local history?  Our current exhibit, 'Crystals, Caves, and Kilns', is bringing new history out into the open and our visitors are excited about that.  This exhibit not only has a video showing cavers going down into a local cave (yes, we do have several caves in the area) and the animals that live in them, but also some before and after photos of local lime producing areas.  I didn't realize what I was driving by on a weekly basis, but will pay attention now.   There is a hands-on area for children to study, handle, and learn about the different types of rocks and boy! do they have fun weighting the rocks, looking at them through magnifying glasses, and just feeling the differences.  This is a very complete, comprehensive, and enjoyable display of our local limestone and marble industry.   I'm glad to see such a rewarding partnership between museums and business.

Good - by 'The Way We Worked' exhibit

I have to confess that I wasn't quite sure what to expect with an exhibit coming from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC!  I have visited their museums not to long ago and left overwhelmed, impressed, thoroughly enjoyed every minute, and with a lifetime of memories.  But I could NOT wrap my head around how we would fit an impressive big impact exhibit into our intimate museum while also giving our visitors the feeling of a big museum exhibit that they would expect from the Smithsonian.  Well - this exhibit was not only big impact in what it delivered, but also compact, tons of photos, content everywhere - even under hats, visual & audio components to enjoy, but it also brought back many memories for our visitors of the types of work they have done in their lives.  Even I was surprised to see photo that brought back an early memory for me - a photo of a large mainframe computer room writing / reading data on large reels of magnetic tape.  It reminded me of one of my early jobs and the beginning of a 32-year career at one company.  We posed the question, 'What was your first job?' and had many dozens of answers.  Some were what many young kids did; delivering newspapers, babysitting, dog walking, but some were surprising, like selling newspapers on the beach.  So Good-by 'The Way We Worked' and Hello to our new exhibit, 'Crystals, Caves, and Kilns'.  Stop by and visit this exhibit.

Smithsonian exhibit, 'The Way We Worked'

We are now in the last two weeks of this fabulous exhibit.  I feel excited about the increased visitation we have welcomed to the museum and appreciative of the positive praise we have received.  Our community have let us know how proud they are to have an exhibit of this  high caliber here locally to visit and enjoy.  I was visiting with one visitor who was telling me that she was telling all her neighbors and friends that 'they just had to come visit the museum and experience this exhibit'.  Another visitor walked past us so I turned to welcome her and I heard, 'and here is one of my neighbors that I told to come visit!'.   Many of us 'baby boomers' can related to many of the photos and their captions describing the work we did and are surprised to see it thought of as 'history'.  For me it was the large mainframe computer rooms that ran large magnetic tape reels of embedded information.   The memories that were brought back to me.

Big Turnout to Honor Our Local Vets

Mon, Nov 11th was our 4th Annual Veterans Day Dinner.  One of my personal highlights of this event is walking around Scopazzi's Restaurant, welcoming our veterans and their families to an evening of shared experiences and history.  I always check that each vet has received and is wearing their annual veteran pin that displays the current Veteran Department's image.  This year the word is 'Valor' and it is so visible in each of our veterans' faces, carriage, and demeanor.  This year we had a poem written by local veteran Bob Presswood about the Viet Nam Memorial Wall.  I am from that era and went to high school with so many classmates who were drafted.  Over 20 years ago I visited the Viet Nam Memorial Wall, touched the names, and felt such overwhelming sadness seeing that long list of names.  The poem put me back there, standing in front of that long black wall again.  That is what this evening is about - sharing, the camaraderie of shared experiences, sharing across generations.  I wouldn't miss this experience.

Boulder Creek Brewery sponsorship a huge Success!

I want to send a big THANK YOU to Nancy Long and Steven Wyman, co-owners of Boulder Creek Brewery, for sponsoring our 1st Community Night.  The BC Brewery has always been a committed supporter of the SLV Museum, so we were so happy that Nancy agreed without hesitation to our request to partner with them for our 1st Community Night.  I went late with my husband, but even at 9 pm the dining area was half full and plenty of people were the enjoying the microbrewery bar.  We had a delicious dinner of (for me) garlic shrimp and steak medallions with garlic mashed potatoes and perfectly steamed veggies and (my husband) the ribs with string fries and coleslaw.  Enjoyed it all and shared desserts (mini carrot cake and brownie ice cream sundae).  We had fun asking each other the Trivia Pursuit questions from the stack of cards on the tables.  Before we knew it our food was served.  I've heard from others who stopped by the Brewery in support of the Museum that it was very busy.  Thank you to ALL our supporters who supported us by supporting our great local business, Boulder Creek Brewery and Cafe'.

Visitors to our Wee Wonders and Widgets Exhibit

I have always enjoyed watching our visiting children show their excitement and wonder watching a model train go around on a track and make the train whistle sounds.  However, there is nothing like the unbridled joy in watching mentally challenged adults visiting us for the first time and their realizing that they can make their own models from all the construction bits and pieces.  We were visited by the Laurel Street Center in downtown Santa Cruz on three different days.  Their van can only bring so many people at a time so they came on three different days with some repeating visitors.  I had my hand eagerly grabbed and taken to a very small train that went around a very small circle track, but made a very loud train chugging sound and went through a tunnel.  The young man was so surprised and pleased with the miniature train he had to share his excitement with someone and I was the one he picked.  A young woman was fascinated with the flume and kept looking through our book-like exhibit filled with flume photos and its history here in San Lorenzo Valley.  Several models were proudly made with exhibit labels written out and names written at the bottom of the label.  I got hugs and waves when they left.  What a wonderful visit.

Getting Ready for our Annual Models & Miniatures Exhibition!

It has been a very busy few days as exhibitors are bringing their models and miniatures to the Museum.   We've had some beautiful dollhouses setup complete with furniture and people.  The exhibit cases are all being exchanged from artifacts to Erector models of early 1920's and 1930's transportation and a Lego model of a busy railroad yard.  I've enjoyed meeting so many of our local model and miniature enthusiasts who are so excited and pleased to share their passions with the community.  I have enjoyed meeting some of our new exhibitors who attended as visitors in past years and decided they wanted to participate so we have new train layouts, train cars, and dollhouses.  I am always amazed at our exhibitors patience in building so many intricate models, most of them actually operable.   I am hoping that we have a huge number of families attending and that the children enjoy being creative with all the construction model pieces we will have in tubs located in an activity area and afterward those models will be on display.  This is a fun event for both adults and children.

Enjoying New Leaf Community Day

Yesterday, Thurs, Aug 29, was Boulder Creek New Leaf Market's Community Day to benefit the San Lorenzo Valley Museum.  We have volunteers staffing an information table, but I secretly feel that they have all the fun.  When I check with my volunteers at each shift change I get the chance to talk with New Leaf's customers.  I talked with a couple from San Francisco camping at Big Basin who didn't realize that there was a history museum in town, but now will definitely visit.  We all thanked New Leaf's customers as they came out of the store for supporting the museum through their purchases - another opportunity to explain how small communities support each other.  I talked with a recent transplant from Palo Alto who loves history and was documenting Palo Alto's.  Now he is interested in SLV's and can't wait to visit.  New Leaf's Community Days supporting our local non profits through the year does more than just make a donation from their daily sales - it gives the designated non profit the opportunity to reach out to their community - thanking, networking, making that physical contact.  That's just as important.

1st Pop-Up Museum

I have never attended a Pop-Up Museum before so I am so excited that we are partnering again with our non profit neighbor in Ben Lomond, the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center on Mill Street, and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History in downtown Santa Cruz for our valley's first Pop-Up Museum.  Don't know what a Pop-Up museum is or how it is different from a regular museum?  First, it comes together with little advance publicity.  Second, it is only together as a museum for a few hours - less than one day.  Third, it is a participatory activity - meaning that the exhibitors are those who bring something to share, display, and/or talk about.  Fourth, the objects, ephemera, or photographs brought to share are displayed for the remainder of time that the museum is in place.  Fifth, there will be a theme or title for the Pop-Up Museum, but it is usually very broad or generic to encourage participation by all ages.    Our Pop-Up is titled 'Lost and Found' so bring any found object on Sat, Aug 24 between 1 - 5 pm to the Santa Cruz Mts Art Center and share why you find this 'found object' so fascinating.  I can't wait to see what our Valley community has found.

10th Annual Community BBQ

Our 10th Annual Community BBQ event is over and we had something for everyone this year.  We almost doubled the number of people served a delicious BBQ with dessert being make-your-own-sundaes.  For some it was definitely 'dessert first' as they had their ice cream first, then the BBQ Italian Sausage or hamburger or BOTH.  Roasted corn-on-the-cob, fresh fruit salad, tasty spinach salad, and a cool watermelon kept everyone satisfied. 

Our horseshoe tournament was back in full swing after a couple of years off.  Congrats to winners Steve Cordoza and Carlos Trevino who generously donated their winnings back to the museum.  Talks are being held to see if the Museum can host a regularly scheduled horseshoe tournament on our two regulation pits.  More details as talks continue.

President and author Lisa Robinson had a very good size crowd listening to her visual presentation on the history of San Lorenzo Valley.  She utilized almost 200 photos in a slide show that spanned many decades, many of them from the Museum's own photo collection.

Thanks to our local band, 'The Home Wreckers', who donated their time to play and entertain everyone.  We even had a few people up and dancing.  Great job and great music!

The silent auction and raffle were fun with a wide variety of prizes to win.  From two passes on the Chardonnay Charter sailboat combined with a gift certificate from the Crow's Nest to a large stuffed Pepe LePhew.  I won a Wallace and Gromet mug with dials to select how strong, how much sugar, and how much cream in my coffee so I can have a perfect cuppa. 

Next year our 11th Annual Community BBQ will be on Sunday, July 20th *hint - it's always the 3rd Sunday in July.  Be sure and not to miss it.

Yesterday I had a couple from the Carmel Valley Historical Society.  The CVHS is opening their museum in December and were very interested in how the SLV Historical Society operated as an organization and managed our museum.  I felt honored to give them a tour of our museum, explaining our rotating exhibits, how our school fieldtrip program operated, and the community support we receive to grow and thrive.  They were interested in how we had such professional looking exhibit text panels, if we had a collection policy, how we tracked our collections donations, and they took photos of everything.  I felt good to be able to help another small museum with my experiences over the last 10 years as they eagerly look forward to opening up their museum doors in their community.  If anyone is down that way in December or early next year, stop by the Carmel Valley Museum and let them know you are from Boulder Creek and heard about their museum.