New Old Time Chautauqua to Visit Republic
The Washington State Parks Department and an organization called “New Old Time Chautauqua” are joining forces to bring an interesting event to Republic. Quotations from the organization’s own literature probably convey what they’re all about better than an “outside” author can:
“The New Old Time Chautauqua is a community of performers, friends, and families who see live performance as a way to share laughter, friendship and wonder.” Its mission is to “provide family oriented entertainment to diverse communities, especially those with limited access to live performing arts. Our traveling troupe works with local organizations and service groups with the intention of inspiring creativity and supporting community.
“New Old Time Chautauqua tours annually with our ever-changing troupe of ~60 members, bringing our brand of new vaudeville to entertain and inspire, to educate, and to support local community organizations. We strive to serve all ages, by performing large-scale public shows, and smaller scale performances to local groups and populations including senior centers, nursing homes, soup kitchens, boys & girls clubs, youth detention centers and prisons. We offer free workshops on topics ranging from circus skills to environmental sustainability.”
The New Old Time Chautauqua’s show includes a parade with a band and local participation, a vaudeville variety show, community shows and service projects, and workshops on subjects From juggling, acrobatics, and maskmaking to alternative energy, global warming, health education, storytelling and much, much more.
So far the only involvement requested from the FCHS is permission to put signs in the Museum porch, in the space formerly occupied by the snack vending machine, but we look forward to more involvement in the spring. There will be more on New Old Time Chautauqua in the Spring Nugget.
2015 Visitors
The Ferry County Historical Society Museum was open for the entire year, thanks to the Stonerose staff who kept the doors open and referred historical questions to FCHS members. This wasn’t enough to offset the effect of multiple wildfires in August, a month that usually brings heavy tourist traffic. Our visitors totaled just over 500. The count for 2014 was over 1000.
Both figures are very conservative since they represent only those who signed the FCHS guest book. Many of the signatures are plural last names or one signature representing a family of unknown size. One private school class was represented by a single signature.
About 27% of the visitors came from Eastern Washington and 30% from Western Washington. The other Pacific Northwest states contributed about 5%, as did British Columbia. The rest of Canada and California accounted for about 2% each. Other states represented in the count were: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The three visitors who indicated that they were from “Washington” did not specify which one. Six of the visitors indicated that they had family ties to Ferry County but only about a dozen were current Ferry
County residents. Holland and Japan tied for the greatest number of foreign visitors with 5 each. Smaller numbers came from Germany, Australia, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Great Northern Railway Historical Society – They’re Coming Back !
The six members of The Great Northern Railway Historical Society who visited Republic in May are coming back, and they’re bringing friends! The organization’s annual convention is taking place in Spokane this year, from September 17th through 21st. Following the convention there will be a bus tour of the former Great Northern route from Spokane to Wenatchee with overnight stops in Republic and Omak. The tour is open to GNRHS members only and will accommodate 40 people. The current count is about 25.
Information collected during the May visit is incorporated in a publication Titled “Modeling GN’s Eureka Gulch Spur”. This is Number 397 in a series of “Reference Sheets” intended for model railroaders who want to get their layouts just right. It features many photographs from the FCHS collection, maps from the Great Northern archives and other sources, time tables, discussions of the freight carried by GN trains, descriptions of cars and instructions for reproducing it all in model railroad form. It also contains detailed instructions for researching historic sources and is, in itself, an excellent example of good research. The GNRHS has kindly provided the FCHS with 15 copies of Reference Sheet No.397. We should decide at the annual meeting if these should be sold or put to some other use.
Cheers to RBC!
Thanks to FCHS member Emily Burt of the Republic Brewing Company! While Republic residents were caught between two fires and braced to evacuate on short notice, Emily remembered the collection in the FCHS museum and packed the smaller and more valuable items for evacuation. Fortunately it didn’t come to that but Emily’s thought and effort are greatly appreciated.
Download the PDF version of the Winter 2016 – 16 Nugget Newsletter
