Guess what I got to do this past Saturday?!
A couple of friends, one of my brothers and myself
had the fun opportunity of being volunteer 'living history' characters
recreating the idea of museum figures coming to life from the "Night at the Museum" movies!
The event was called "Night at PPHM"
hosted at the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum.
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From 8-11:30,
the museum turned off their lights and visitors came through
with flash lights and 'caught' the museum night life (the dressed up volunteers)
going about their business...doing what they would have done in their respective era of history.
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| L-R: Friend Beth, myself, brother Anthony, friend Cari. |
Us gals played the part of prairie ladies in the museum's amazing western town!
We had a 'sewing bee' in the parlor of our prairie house...only none of us were sewing...
Each of us exhibited a different form of handiwork...
knitting, embroidery, and crochet.
We found it pretty tricky in the dark...but in between being flashed by one of the
995 attendants, we were able to at least make it look like we were doing something!
There were lots of inquisitive children as well as parents who took advantage
of the teachable moment...for example
"This is what they did for fun back then....
...this was before X-box...and TV."
"See, they had to make all of their own clothes...there were no Wal-Marts."
Probably one of the funnest aspects was that we were able to have real
conversations that actually fit into the lives of our characters!
We talked about our gardens...ducks and hens hatching out...
whirl winds, droughts, dust storms...
and various friends who are getting married and having babies.
Our favorite and most well suited topic was the Civil War Wedding
of our mutual friend...it fit perfectly!
Conversation flowed naturally and unforced...there were even some people
who hung around our parlor just to listen for a bit.
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| Just a sittin' |
My little brother was dressed up as a on gas station attendant
and as his nightly occupation, 'washed' and waxed a 1927 Model T Ford Car.
Our great grandpa really did own and run a gas station, and his daughter,
our Nana, worked there.
He felt pretty proud that he was, in a sense, carrying on the tradition.
In short, we all had a blast!
This is definitely something we would love to do again...
I would love to 'history hop' and try a different time period...like the 40's!
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| Picture by Ralph Duke |
This was our group picture!
Visit the PPHM Facebook page for a whole album of great shots!
You can also visit this site for some awesome shots like the one below.
Photo By: Spotted® Sean Steffen AGN Media
Taylor Norman talks with visitors about his work while portraying a blacksmith Saturday, June 8, 2013 during a night event at the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in which visitors used flashlights to view the exhibits in the dark.
Our little group so thouroughly enjoyed the experience
that there was much talk about expanding our little band and making it
a regular to do where ever we could find a place to volunteer!
We'll see what the future holds...
Nice!!! :) I loved reading that!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It allowed me to relive it in a small way. :)
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