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?