Sunday, April 26, 2009
Lakewood Museum Update
The Lakewood Historical Society may very well shut its temporary museum to focus on developing its permanent home, members agreed last week.
There was a very productive summit called last week.
It only attracted 20 people, which is disturbing, but not at all surprising. I was pleased to see Mayor Doug Richardson there, along with the two people who co-chaired the cityhood campaign many years ago, Andi Gernon and former Mayor Bill Harrison.
The turnout was not surprising, especially when you consider that it was clear the 'program' was going to be about whether to keep the temporary museum going. A Lakewood museum is only probably going to attract a large following when it can develop exhibits and programs related to two of the most exciting parts of Lakewood history, a raceway and an airfield. Right now, you have to care about what's basically a history of a suburb ... and not everyone does.
That said, everyone who comes into the 1,300-square-foot museum is astonished at the large amount of information ranging from pioneer times to the story of Chief Leschi, the old maps, furniture, etc...
However, the society just can't keep up the rent. So members agreed to soldier up for as much as six months, trying to find a free or much less expensive space. That might happen, either by alliance with some other nonprofit group, or finding some kind landlord who wants space occupied at an attractive rent in a recession. If it doesn't happen, then items will likely be put into storage and small exhibits posted in some of the businesses around town.
As a co-founder of the museum, I welcome this as something we simply must do. When we started 2.5 years ago, we hoped that creating an active schools program and building connections with the many small museums in the area would bring in more people. Well, despite a couple people working incredibly hard, it hasn't. So it goes. We look forward to a new home. We can all agree it's going to be an amazing place to interpret our rich history for future generations.
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There was a very productive summit called last week.
It only attracted 20 people, which is disturbing, but not at all surprising. I was pleased to see Mayor Doug Richardson there, along with the two people who co-chaired the cityhood campaign many years ago, Andi Gernon and former Mayor Bill Harrison.
The turnout was not surprising, especially when you consider that it was clear the 'program' was going to be about whether to keep the temporary museum going. A Lakewood museum is only probably going to attract a large following when it can develop exhibits and programs related to two of the most exciting parts of Lakewood history, a raceway and an airfield. Right now, you have to care about what's basically a history of a suburb ... and not everyone does.
That said, everyone who comes into the 1,300-square-foot museum is astonished at the large amount of information ranging from pioneer times to the story of Chief Leschi, the old maps, furniture, etc...
However, the society just can't keep up the rent. So members agreed to soldier up for as much as six months, trying to find a free or much less expensive space. That might happen, either by alliance with some other nonprofit group, or finding some kind landlord who wants space occupied at an attractive rent in a recession. If it doesn't happen, then items will likely be put into storage and small exhibits posted in some of the businesses around town.
As a co-founder of the museum, I welcome this as something we simply must do. When we started 2.5 years ago, we hoped that creating an active schools program and building connections with the many small museums in the area would bring in more people. Well, despite a couple people working incredibly hard, it hasn't. So it goes. We look forward to a new home. We can all agree it's going to be an amazing place to interpret our rich history for future generations.
