TMS offers leis, sea turtles and murder this month
TEXARKANA — The Texarkana Museums System has filled its lineup with activities this month, ranging from virtual trips to a beautiful Hawaii to murder most foul in Texarkana.
Online Boredom Busters, which would normally take place at Discovery Place Interactive Museum, now take place, over successive Saturdays, at the Texarkana Museums System’s pages on Facebook with that children’s museum still closed.
The TMS will host the following events online:
■ Flower Leis & Hula Lesson, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Take-home kits are free.
■ Sea Turtle Mosaic, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. July 18. Take-home kits are $5.
■ Volcano Science Experiments, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 25. Take-home kits are $5.
Jamie Simmons, curator at the Texarkana Museums
System, explains that people can schedule their participation and acquire the necessary materials in advance.
“People who want to participate can reserve a kit. They just need to go to our TexarkanaMuseums.org/ events page, and they can reserve a kit that will be used for one of the activities,” Simmons said. “We’re going to walk everybody though the activity on the livestream.”
Kits can be picked up even up to the day of an event. They’re available at the Museum of Regional History, 219 State Line Ave.
For the leis and hula lessons, a flower lei will be made.
“When people think of Hawaii, one of the first things they imagine are the beautiful flower leis that you can find. We’ll start with a little bit of history about the origin of those flower leis,” Simmons said.
They’ll craft ones from paper, although other items can be used, too, natural items like flowers, shells, feathers and more. Polynesian and Hawaiian culture will be discussed, as will a more in-depth talk about hula dancing to provide context.
“The hula as a dance is tell
ing a story,” Simmons said. “Each hand gesture, each movement that a dancer makes, it actually is telling part of the story. I think that’s one of the most interesting things about hula.”
As far as sea turtles are concerned, that livestream will teach participants how to make a mosaic, again fitting the Hawaiian theme.
“We’ll learn a little bit about sea turtles, which in Hawaiian culture were seen as sacred animals at one time,” Simmons said. They’ll provide a kit but just about anything can be used to do mosaic art. Little known facts about this endangered species will be discussed.
“To kind of bring awareness of that fact, as well,” Simmons said.
The third of the remaining Boredom Busters events is Volcano Science Experiments. As with others, kits will be available during the week before the event. This is essentially a science experiment.
“We’ll actually demonstrate three different experiments. The materials are pretty straightforward things that you can usually find in your kitchen, or things that are easy to get,” Simmons said. People without a kit should be able to follow along.
Of course, this is the flipside of Hawaii with its pretty leis and cute turtles. “That’s the dangerous side of Hawaii are the volcanoes,” Simmons said. “Here recently within the past year there were incidents with the volcanoes in the Hawaiian islands, so it’s kind of relevant to the time, as well.”
Island formation and other volcano activity, including eruption, will be discussed.
The TMS rounds out the month with the Murder and Mayhem Walking Tour, which starts at 7 p.m. July 25 at the P.J. Ahern Home. The evening walk provides insight into murderous deeds from Texarkana’s more gruesome past. It’s $10 for non-members and $5 for members.
“It’s a walking tour of part of the downtown area. We’re focused on the period between 1873 and 1893, so the first 20 years of the town’s existence when it was still a little bit more of a Wild West town. There was still a level of lawlessness in Texarkana.”
Bank robberies, train robberies, murders in the street — these events were part of the early Texarkana days.
“The walking tour actually is going to include living history recreations of a couple of events, so you’ll get to see some of these incidents acted out in front of you. We do have costumed interpreters who are going to be helping us with that,” Simmons said. They’re still looking for volunteers for that event, too.
(For all of these events, registration is requested. To register, visit the Texarkana Museums System online at Texarkanamuseums.org/ Events. You can also call 903793-4831 for more information.)