From the President
By: Betty Mayian
As you know from the newspapers and broadcasts, the Chicago Post Office is the slowest in the country. If you hadn’t known it before you sure do now, after some of you told me that you received your Fundraiser Invitation on the day of the event. It went to the post office on Tuesday, March 13th and the fundraiser was Wednesday, April 18th. Over five weeks! So, when we put any dated information into our bulk mail mailings we can never be sure of anything. I am hoping that it was only a few that got them late – and to those few people, I am sorry and you missed a fine night of great food, drink, entertainment and fine silent auction prizes. Thank you again to “That Little Mexican Café” and to all who attended to make it so special.
We are excited by what is coming up the rest of the Spring and Summer. On Saturday May 5th when Niamh Cronin taught the Scrapbooking class to about 10 attendees. The next day we worked again with the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce and participated in their “Wine Crawl”. We offered some wine and cheese to people as they enjoy our exhibit “Your House Has a History”. This may bring in new membership, as we will see people at a different day and time than we normally open the museum. Also, the wine and cheese are for good will. Our new business neighbors, Sunburst Flowers and GreenSky Boutique, at 5357 N. Ashland, also participated.
On May 19th, you may have tuned your radio dials to station EHS, because the Those Were the Days Radio Players - Chicago North, performed another hour of comedy from the Golden Age of radio. This is always a lot of fun.
On Sunday May 20th Kathy Gemperle conducted a walking tour of the Lakewood Balmoral Historic District.
Midsommarfest will be on Clark Street in Andersonville again this year on June 9-10. The Edgewater Historical Society will be there in the Community Booth on Saturday, June 9th between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Stop by and say hello and stay to look at our photos and take a guess at our mystery object. Every year we show people an item from the past and ask them to guess what it was used for and what year. We give prizes for the winner of that contest and we usually have another contest. We will be giving away tickets to our September 16th Edgewater Home Tour of the West Andersonville area.
But, before the home tour, we will have another Radio Players hour of entertainment for you on August 25th, 2 p.m. at the museum.
One goal, to increase the EHS membership, is starting to pick up. We have had an increase in NEW membership this year. Tell your friends about us, there is much happening. Our board of directors may be increasing this summer. We have had four people who have taken applications.
It has been over 16 years since the board of the Edgewater Historical Society met to attend a retreat. Jere McCormick and Reggie Griffin will be making it happen again this summer. The other exciting thing will be that EHS will be start on increasing our work with the schools. Bob Remer will be proposing some goals and asking our members, who are or were teachers, to help advance those goals. We have brought classes from Trumbull, St. Gertrude and St. Gregory into the museum. We have a display of child-friendly objects that pique the curiosity of the students. (see new at the museum page 11)
We have had a number of orders for our DVD documentary, &ldquoEdgewater Through the Eyes of Experience,” professionally produced by local filmmaker Bob Solomon. See the ad in this issue of the newsletter. We mail it out for an additional shipping and handling fee of $5. Come to the museum and pick up your copy; or see our mascot, the EHS Dalmatian stuffed puppy ($15 each or 2 for $25); or the mouse-pad with our museum picture on it ($10 or 3 for $25). All are perfect for gift giving. As long as I am mentioning our sales items, remember we always have back issues of the Scrapbook newsletter ($1 each), or Home Tour books ($3 each copy or $45 for a complete set.)
From May through September, EHS opens its doors on the 3rd and 4th Sundays. We like to show our video collection during the summer. Check us out and ask what’s playing. In June the exhibit, “Edgewater’s Attic” will be on display through the end of September. Look in your attic or basement for some things from the past that you might want to see exhibited. We take gifts or loans of items and we scan your photos so you do not need to give us the original pictures. Call or email or send us a message through the website.