Faulkner County Museum open house is Saturday
CONWAY — Each year, Lynita Langley-Ware, director of the Faulkner County Museum, looks for something new to add to the museum’s traditional open house.
This year, members of the Faulkner County Master Gardeners program have been added as sponsors of the 13th annual Holiday Open House, which is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
“This year, we are particularly blessed to have the Master Gardeners help out, along with members of the Town and Country Garden Club, the Conway Garden Club and the Conway Evening Garden Club,” Langley-Ware said. “The garden clubs traditionally provide the harvest-theme decorations for the museum and the dogtrot cabin, as well as items for the Christmas Gift Shop, where visitors may purchase handmade crafts and homemade baked goods.
“The Master Gardeners will be on hand to talk about their program and maybe give advice about gardening in Faulkner County.”
She said members of the Faulkner County Historical Society are also sponsoring the event and will be on hand with their publications, such as Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings.
“Traditional skills demonstrations will include woodworking, needle arts, corn-husk
doll making, rope making, Dutch oven cooking and blacksmithing,” Langley-Ware said.
Students from the University of Central Arkansas Department of History will present Seasons and Decades: 1900s to 1930s.
Langley-Ware said these students are part of a “service-learning” program at UCA under the direction of Kim Little, director of public history internships.
“They will demonstrate history by the decades,” Langley-Ware said.
“To represent the 1900s, they will churn butter, make corn-husk dolls and show an oxen yoke and some sort of horse-drawn conveyance apparatus, like a wagon or a surrey,” she said.
“For the 1910s, they will highlight World War I,” she said. “They will write postcards to soldiers and prepare care packages to send overseas. They will have someone dressed as a Red Cross nurse and as a suffragist. They will also have a cookbook featuring rationing recipes.”
Langley-Ware said that for the next decade, history students will represent the Roaring Twenties.
“They will demonstrate historical board games and give Charleston dance lessons to the grown-ups in the audience,” she said.
“And the theme for the 1930s will be A Hard Candy Christmas,” Langley-Ware said.
“They will make salt-dough ornaments and paper hearts and stars, and decorate them with glitter,” she said. “They were very excited to learn that glitter was invented in 1934.
“We will also have an authentic 1934 firetruck on display.”
The railroad-layout exhibit on the second floor of the museum will be open to visitors as well.
Langley-Ware said she has invited the “Spirits of Cadron” to attend the open house.
“Our event at Cadron Settlement Park on Oct. 23 and 24 was rained out, so I am hoping some of the spirits that were planning to visit the blockhouse will come to our open house,” she said with a laugh. “We’d love to hear their stories.”
There is no admission charge for the Faulkner County Museum Holiday Open House, but donations are always appreciated. All are welcome, and refreshments will be served.
“We’ll have our world-famous gingerbread cookies and cider,” Langley-Ware said.
For more information, call the museum at (501) 329-5918. The museum is on the Faulkner County Courthouse Square, 801 Locust St. in Conway.