April's Student-Senior Day at museum a success

We hope you were able to get to the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center for Student-Senior Day. Ken Gardner was a great teacher and had some really terrific poetry for us. Participating in the afternoon class were brand new Douglas County Historical Society member Fran Shuler and our only youth poetry student, Lindsey Carr. We were all amazed when Lindsey knew more rhyming words than anyone.

Coming up in just a couple of weeks is our annual volunteer appreciation evening. The invitations are out and we are waiting to hear from you, our volunteers, to see who will be able to attend. This is an important event as it is our turn to thank you for all the wonderful things you do and all the time you donate to your historical society. We hope to see all our volunteers there.

Mark Saturday, May 3, in your calendars. That's the day the Genoa Court House Museum opens for the season. The exhibit committee has been working on new exhibits as well as improving some existing exhibits. The ladies in charge of the gift shop will have it in perfect shape and filled with all kinds of great things. Stop by and enjoy the museum. It will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

May 3 will also be the next Student-Senior Day at the museum in Gardnerville. Paul Spears will be demonstrating sign language using puppets. May 8 is the next lecture series featuring Bob Ellison talking about Warren Watson, Genoa pioneer and first U.S. Marshall. We'll have more information on these speakers in the coming weeks.

Also coming up in May is the Historic Emigrant Trail Barn Tour. We are in the midst of finalizing which barns will be participating and preparing another barn booklet for ticket holders. This booklet may become a collectors' item as cowboy poet and author Ken Gardner has written a poem specifically for this tour. The booklet will also feature photos and descriptions of participating barns and a map of their locations. Tickets will be on sale soon.

Speaking of authors, our Main Street Bookstore features one entire section of local authors like Ken Gardner. Douglas County has produced a lot of authors, many of whom have written about our colorful history. Most of the featured speakers on Student-Senior Day and the lecture series have books available in our book store. Stop by and browse. There is no museum admission charge for shopping in the bookstore.

Bill Sweeney, better known as our own Douglas High, the leading character in our melodramas, was in the museum the other day. He was looking very heroic, just like a hero from the "Whistle Stop III" melodrama. All those in favor of another melodrama from Sue and John Smith start clapping and don't stop until they start writing.

If you have any questions about anything mentioned here, please call the Douglas County Historical Society at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville at 782-2555 or go to www.historicnevada.org. Remember, DCHS and its two museums do not receive any regular state or county funding. It's up to our members and friends to help us keep our doors open.

-- Contact Ellen Caywood at in2my2cats@yahoo.com or at 790-1565.