Museum Board agrees to build new entrance

Sweet outlines summer programming plan; QC being asked to approve new member

Members of the St. Francis County Museum Board on Tuesday heard from Museum director Judy Sweet about replacing a porch cover on the east side of the building before deciding to rebuild the entrance.

Sweet also discussed plans for summer programming.

During the meeting, the board also accepted the resignation of Sandy Smith and agreed to recommend to the Quorum Court that Debbie Jones be named to the board to represent Palestine.

According to Sweet, the canvas covering on the east porch of the building where the entrance is needs to be replaced.

Sweet told the board that John Jordan, who previously took care of the facility’s maintenance, had received a quote to have a new permanent porch build in that location instead of simply replacing the canvas covering.

"John has been in the process of working on a new cover for the porch on the east side of the building," said Sweet. "He was able to locate another canvas cover similar to what we have now, but he also got a quote to build a porch, which would be permanent. It would better stand the weather. He got a bid of $4,080. Putting a new canvas up would have cost nearly $2,000. Sure, it is a lot more money, but it will also last a lot longer."

Sweet said that fundraising could be done and that money from donations could be used to help fund the project.

"John told me that Rotary has $1,500 to go toward it, and the museum maintenance account through the St. Francis County Historical Society has $3,530 in it. We could also use funds from our 501 if we needed to,” said Sweet.

“The bid is from Mike Leslie Construction,” Sweet continued. “He has previously done work inside and outside here at the museum. Mike has always been willing to work with us to get us what we need."

The board voted unanimously to accept the $1,500 offered by Rotary and to use $2,500 from the museum’s maintenance account with the Historical Society with the intention to fund the remaining amount through fundraising or other means to have the new porch constructed. According to Sweet, summer programming is set to begin in July, but due to her being called for jury duty during June and July, the plan is still up in the air.

"I am working on summer programming, and hopefully it will start in July," said Sweet. "Every Thursday in July we are going to study folklore. I have heard that Sue Jayroe does square dancing. I would like find someone to teach our kids to square dance, to play harmonica and someone to tell folklore stories. We have a lot of folklore books upstairs in our education room. In studying square dancing, I learned that it became our national dance not too long ago.

“Mike has always been willing to work with us to get us what we need.”

– Judy Sweet, SFC Museum Curator