Heritage Museum opens June 4th
by The Heritage Museum
May 31, 2011
History will be the focus in Libby on Saturday, June 4, when the Heritage Museum offers up its annual Opening Day to kick off the 2011 summer season.
David Thompson, the explorer who established a trading post near Kootenai Falls in the early 19th century, will highlight the day. Representatives of the 2011 David Thompson Brigade, which is canoeing 1,200 miles from Invermere, B.C., to Astoria, Ore., will have an exhibit on the museum grounds. The bulk of the brigade is expected to arrive at Libby on June 8, to begin its portage to the Clark Fork River.
Thompson will also be featured in a film by George Sibley, who will be on hand to answer questions about the film and about Thompson’s career as North America’s preeminent explorer and map maker.
A gray wolf, a blond bear, a badger, an otter, a mountain lion and cubs have been included in a new wildlife exhibit. If you’ve never looked a wolf in its somewhat eerie eyes, this one should make an impression. Look at its feet and you’ll know that those big tracks you saw in the woods weren’t made by a dog or a coyote! This thing is a real big-foot.
Patty Rambo and her students will demonstrate traditional Native American games that taught the kids skills they would need in everyday life. Researched, restored and reintroduced by the International Traditional Games Society, they are fun to play. Rambo is a certified trainer for the Society.
Hamburgers, homemade pies and cakes and more good food will be available at the Sylvanite Cookhouse.
Members of the Libby Fine Arts Group will be showing their artwork in the Tower Gallery, and antique quilts, most from the Inez Herrig collection, will be displayed for the entire summer. Many were made in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.
Exhibits and demonstrations will go on throughout the day, every one focused on various facets of Libby’s storied history of exploration, mining and logging. Vintage machinery will include a rock crusher, early chainsaws and power equipment. Charles Robbins of Missoula will demonstrate the traditional skill of rope-making.
And, of course, the museum’s Model T Ford will be cruising the grounds.
Kids – or anyone with the urge to try – can pan for gold in front of the Miner’s Cabin, and the Kootenai Muzzleloaders will set up camp and show off their skills and handmade crafts. If the weather permits, Mark Morain will demonstrate gun-making skills. Morain, a member of the museum’s board, is a local expert.
This is the schedule for inside the museum on Opening Day:
10 a.m. – showing of George Sibley's movie, "Shadows of David Thompson"
11 a.m. – talk by Carl Haywood, a David Thompson scholar from Thompson Falls
1 p.m. – talk by Tianna Bloomer: Jennings and Steamboating the Kootenai
2 p.m. – Second showing of Sibley movie
The museum will open its doors at 10 a.m. Saturday and close out its celebration at 5 p.m. For the remainder of the summer season, hours will be Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is by donation. The Heritage Museum is run completely by volunteers.
Contact Info:
The Heritage Museum
34067 US Hwy 2
PO Box 628
Libby, MT 59923
406-293-7521
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