Web posted
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Museum holds fund raisers
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
A Texas hold 'em poker tournament to be held next week will be the first of a series of events sponsored by the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum.
"These are fun and entertaining events we are having in our efforts to raise money for this year and 2009," said Heather Ferguson, museum director.
The poker tournament will begin at 7 p.m. next Tuesday. A donation of $20 is asked for all tournament participants.
There will be cash prizes for the first-, second- and third-place finishers, said Russell Keefe, event organizer and member of the museum advisory board.
Keefe said the museum hopes to make Texas hold 'em tournaments a monthly event.
Other events planned by the museum:
* On Saturday, Aug. 30, Ferguson will hold a book-signing of her new book entitled "Images of America: Arkansas City," published by Arcadia Publishing. It will be an all-day event at the museum, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission is $4.50 for adults; $3.50 for seniors; $2 for children 6 to 12; children under 6, free.
"While at the museum have some munchies and a drink and take a tour," Ferguson said.
* Sept. 14: The museum's annual Pioneer Festival and Western Heritage Days will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Two living history reenactment troupes will portray western-era citizens, Ferguson said. One group is called Riders of the Cimarron and troupe members will have gunfights in front of a false-fronted main street.
The second group is Aces and Six Guns. Group members will portray daily activity on main street.
"Riders have been here in previous years," Ferguson said. "Aces is a group of reenactors from Cowtown, so many of you may have seen them before."
Several people will conduct demonstrations that day, she added. They will include blacksmiths, a rope maker, a soap maker, a woman washing clothes and a leather artist.
The Southern Plains Fiber Guild will demonstrate knitting, tatting and other fiber arts.
At 11 a.m., Donnie Huffman will conduct a cowboy church.
At 1 p.m., James Jordan will give a first-person account of Buckskin Joe, a colorful Ark City character of the late 1800s. He was part of the original settling party of the town.
At 2 p.m., Clarina Nichols will make an appearance at the museum and tell us about abolition, women's suffrage and prohibition.
At 3 p.m., Stephen A. Douglas will arrive to tell everyone about the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Westward Expansion.
During the day, Bill Shelton will give rides in his stagecoach as he has done yearly.
"There will be a boomer camp set up to tell people how it was for boomers before the run," Ferguson said. "In addition, there will be a Civil War camp set up showing visitors what it was like for soldiers during the Civil War."
Games for children will be held throughout the day, including sack races, a mock land rush and a hay scramble.
A mechanical bull will be available for people to ride. Each ride will have a charge of a couple of dollars until the person is bucked off.
"Come out and ride, ride, ride," she said, "because we hope that this will raise some money for 2009 programming."
Admission to the museum will be included with the tickets. The festival tickets will include a pork burger meal. Cost for adults is $5 and children is $3.
(Foss Farrar is a member of the museum's advisory board.)
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