The Western Oklahoma Historical Society held their monthly board of directors meeting on Monday, at 11 a.m., in Western Technology Center. President Linda Long opened the meeting, while Doug Haught gave the invocation. She then introduced Michele Holley from AmeriCorp, RSVP, who spoke about senior citizen volunteering.
After she spoke to the group, the board approved the minutes from the June meeting. Beverly Jordan presented the treasurer’s report, which was also approved by the board. The Standing Reports were next.
The Farm and Ranch report was given by Jim Coffey, who said he did not have much to report, but will in the future. Randy Haggard said that there was nothing to report on the Blacksmith Shop. Beverly Jordan then spoke about the Flea Market.
She said that they have put something on Facebook every week promoting the Route 66 Flea Market. They will have flyers and are sending out letters to the vendors. Cindy Wood said that there have been no new members over the past month.
Judy Haught gave the Archive report. They are currently looking for information about Beulah, which includes pictures. The committee is going to travel to Carter to get pictures. They are also looking Pie Flat area.
Haggard reported on the museum. The museum had nearly 2000 visitors in the month of June. The gift shop brought in around $8500 in sales. The attendance at the museum is slightly down over the past year. He also said that they will pick up a new artist the first of August.
Museum curator, Anna Wray, gave her museum report. She said that she is trying to create community involvement with an event called Sip and Screen, which is an outdoor movie and wine tasting. The tickets may be ordered through the QR code. On Thursday, Aug. 14th, around 8:15 p.m., on the National Route 66 Museum lawn the movie will begin. The tickets are $10 each, and the movie will be “It Happened One Night.”
Wray also announced that they will be closing the Koi Pond. It is going to cost $20,000 to $30,000 to repair it, and they are unable to find anyone to care for it. They have currently started to remove it.
Rodney Cloud will be remaking the area. They are also painting the house. She added that the Great Race will be coming through next year.
The docents have ordered new t-shirts for those new volunteers, which are the same design as the older ones.
In old business, Long brought to the board’s attention that they needed to change the signage on the blacksmith shop. They had voted to change the name to the Bob Kennemer Blacksmith shop, but the sign has notbeenchanged. Afterdiscussing the typs of sign, the board voted to investigate having a metal sign made for the structure. Donnie Jordan will be researching the options. The possibility of applying for a tourism grant was also discussed, but no action was taken.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:09 pm.
