From the President

By: Kathy Gemperle

Summer has been slow to arrive and we have benefited at the museum with additional time for planting and planning. The cooler weather has also helped the budget since we have had to run the AC just a few times. Does this cool beginning forecast a sweltering fall?

Each week the museum looks different as we move things around and prepare for many activities and events. You should know that the museum can be opened for you or a special group if you just call us ahead of time. We do not have the funds to pay a full or part-time staff member but we do have wonderful volunteers, some of whom have flexible schedules. Our regular hours are Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.

Some of the special events we have hosted include the Those Were the Days Radio Players who performed here on Sunday, July 13. The event was a big hit. If you missed it they will offer another performance this fall/winter.

Then on Sunday, August 3, we held our first ever Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social. The event was planned to include some antique cars and fire trucks and we got permission to close the street. But the rain forced us to move the party inside. The performance by the Sweet Adelines was great and reminded everyone of the old days. The ice cream sundaes and cones were sold at old-fashioned prices, 25¢ to 50¢. Lori Lynch worked on making the event authentic and a good time was had by all!

Our schedule is filling up so we sent out a calendar early for all you members to post on your refrigerators Our next big event is the 15th Annual Fall Home Tour which will be in East Andersonville. It will start at the museum at 12 noon on Sunday, September 21, 2003. This event is a major fundraiser for the museum which usually brings $4000 into the budget. You can do your part as a member by attending the event which is a delightful afternoon learning about neighborhood history and architecture. Watch for the notice about the tour in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune as well as the Lerner papers.

On Wednesday, October 15, 2003 we will have an unusual event, a party at the Speakeasy Supper Club on Devon at Glenwood, 7-10 p.m. Appetizers and wine /beer are included as well as entertainment. Wear a roaring twenties costume and enter the costume contest. If you need help on the costume design, check out the movie “The Cat’s Meow” which is set in 1924 on William Randolph Hearst’s yacht. If you can belt out a tune from the twenties let me know and we will be sure the piano player is prepared. Reservations are suggested. We appreciate your support. If you have something to donate to the silent auction or the raffle baskets just call us at the museum and we’ll arrange to pick up.

We hate to focus on money but we are in an unfinished museum - the kitchen is stacked with donated cabinets and a donated sink but we need more funds to hire the contractor to finish the project. It was our good fortune to find an almost new refrigerator just in time for the ice cream social. But really, we hope you will attend one of these events and go beyond membership to help us get started. This is the year of our fifteenth anniversary and we are celebrating! Please join us.

As we move ahead into the fall, I’d like to give a special thank you to Tom Dwyer who is the best computer expert and web master we could have ever found. He has organized so much of our museum it is hard to list what he has accomplished. Thanks to Sandee Remis for all the work she has done in organizing our storerooms. Sandee has also had her hand in the garden along with Elizabeth Wilcox-Szegho, Susan Darnell Barb Stanley and Ray Nihlean. Since all this work is done by volunteers thanks also go to Betty Mayian for coordinating all the volunteering. We hope to find more volunteers so we can keep the doors open another afternoon.

If you haven’t been to the museum since the opening please stop by soon and see all the changes. A new exhibit went up on August 14, Designing the Chicago Lakefront 2003. The exhibit will be there until September 30 so stop in some Saturday! I look forward to seeing you there.