Here it is - the weekend we at the Douglas County Historical Society have waited for, albeit not so very patiently. Wow, cookies and Santa and trees and a tea, all in the same weekend.
I was over at the Gardnerville museum just the other day and was treated to a flurry of activity. Trees were being assembled and decorated and people were everywhere, checking out each others' trees. What a festive air that created.
The exhibit committee was scurrying to take all the exhibits out of the main gallery and get it ready for its quota of trees as well as the tables for the tea. They were labeling the trees as they were installed and putting up the voting cans.
Even the Main Street Bookstore, which was already beautifully decorated for winter, was getting its own tree as well as other Christmas decorations. I noticed boxed Christmas cards on the cash register desk as well. The cards they sell have a definite Douglas County or Nevada theme.
This year the decorated trees come from a wide variety of Valley establishments. Trinity Lutheran Preschool and Miss Rudy's Child Care represent the youngest segment of the population while Douglas County Senior Services represents the oldest. The Red Hat Society has two entries: The Scarlet Sippers and The Scarlet Ladies Chapters.
Because 2008 is an election year, the Douglas County Democrats and Republican Women are both represented. Design companies include The House Stylist and Cawa Design. Laura Springs Antiques is reviving their Christmas diva tree.
Douglas County's favorite project, Austin's House, is also represented along with the Western Nevada Cattlewomen and the Hip Hatters of Carson Valley. That's 14 trees, each needing your vote and your support to win the best tree award. Be sure to come in sometime during December to see them all.
If you hurry, you can still get an entry to the Gardnerville museum in time for the November photo contest deadline of 4 p.m. today. Please do try or you just might be forced to look at a photo of my Thanksgiving turkey all November long in the 2009 calendar.
The December photo contest will start Dec. 1. You might want to get your entry in to the museum early, before the Christmas rush. There are so many things to photograph for the December contest. I'm particularly fond of the lights along Highway 395. That's hometown America to me.
Rehearsals for the cast and crew of the melodrama, "Whistle Stop Three," will begin soon. We will finally find out how the story of Douglas High and Esmeralda Street ends and if Seth Poole "gets his." This play will bring back some great old characters and introduce some really interesting new ones.
Tickets will be on sale tomorrow at the tea as well as at the museum's front desk. There are dinner shows on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26, starting at 6 p.m. for $20 per person and a luncheon matinee on Sunday, Jan. 27, at 1 p.m. for $15. Plan to get your ticket early. We always sell out well before the performance weekend.
If you have any questions about anything mentioned here, please call the Douglas County Historical Society at the Carson Valley Museum in Gardnerville at 782-2555. Visit our Web site at historicnevada.org. And if you have the time, the museum is always looking for interested volunteers.
-- Contact Ellen Caywood
at in2my2cats@yahoo.com
or 790-1565.
