Sept. 9, 2008

Museum visitors can harvest a bushel of family fun when the Michigan Iron Industry Museum in Negaunee Township launches its first annual Fall Fest event Sept. 20-21. Activities are slated from noon to 4 p.m. both days.

"From arts and crafts, music and storytelling, to pony rides, international dance, kids' games and displays, this museum event promises an enjoyable fall outing for visitors of all ages," said Barry James, an education specialist with the Michigan Historical Center.

Highlights for Saturday activities include storytelling and book signings by Marquette author Tyler Tichelaar, folk dancing from many lands by the NMU International Dancers and, in keeping with the season, a presentation on Victorian mourning customs.

Dressed in black from head to foot, Fayette Historic Townsite historian Brenda Laakso will discuss late Victorian mourning etiquette, attire and funeral customs. Her audience will discover why, at a time when most funerals were held at home, Victorians believed you should stop the clock in a room where someone died, why they covered mirrors in the home following a death, and other 19th-century superstitions.

Sunday's headline performances will include the Bluffs Orchestra, from Chassell, featuring traditional jazz and swing music, dancing and storytelling, and a PowerPoint program about the Iron Ore Heritage Area Trail, a 48-mile trail system that will combine Marquette Range iron mining heritage with natural resources-based education and recreational opportunities.

Both days, family activities will include pumpkin painting, paper mask making and traditional games such as "snap apple," a 19th-century version of bobbing for apples. The Bell Memorial YMCA in Negaunee will offer sack races and free pumpkins to decorate while "The Future Historians" - a youth auxiliary of the museum - will demonstrate kids' activities of long ago, including how to make a corn husk doll. Boys and girls alike will enjoy free pony rides offered by Raynor Johnson, of Champion.

Demonstrations will also feature blacksmithing by Gordon Gearhart, of Gwinn, folk art of rural Norway by Pat Virch, of Marquette, needlework by Knit-N-Purl, also of Marquette, and a quilting display by Karen Johnson, of Ishpeming. PleinAir, a coterie of area artists who draw inspiration for painting from nature, will set up on the museum grounds. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Karen Valley, of Winter Sky Wool Company, will exhibit Shetland lambs as well as yarns, roving and fleeces.

Participants can sample natural and organic foods offered at a Marquette Food Co-op tent and make cider - cranking it out by hand with an apple press demonstrated by Barb Trombley of Chatham.

The Future Historians will offer period refreshments including cider, donuts, SnoCones and old-fashioned popcorn. Donations are encouraged and proceeds will go to support museum education programs.

The two-day schedule includes:

• NMU International Dancers, noon to 4 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
• Pony rides, noon to 4 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
• Pumpkin painting and sack races, Bell Memorial YMCA in Negaunee, noon to 4 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
• 19th-century children's activities: paper mask making, corn husk dolls, games, noon to 4 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
• Arts and crafts demonstrations: blacksmithing, folk art of rural Norway, needlework, PleinAir Artists, noon to 4 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday); paper quilling, quilting (Sunday)
• Marquette Food Co-Op tent, noon to 4 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
• Apple cider press, noon to 4 p.m. (Saturday)
• Bluffs Orchestra, noon to 4 p.m. (Sunday)
• Storytelling, Tyler Tichelaar, 1:30 p.m. (Saturday), 2:30 p.m. (Sunday)
• Victorian mourning customs, Brenda Laakso, 2:30 p.m. (Saturday)
• Iron Ore Heritage Area, Carol Fulsher, 1:30 p.m. (Sunday)

The Michigan Iron Industry Museum is one of 11 nationally accredited museums administered by the Michigan Historical Center, a public, non-profit facility of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. It is located at 73 Forge Road, overlooking the site of the Carp River Forge, a pioneer industrial site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The recently expanded museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Oct. 31. For more information, or for winter hours, call (906) 475-7857 or visit online at www.michigan.gov/ironindustrymuseum.

The Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL) is dedicated to enriching quality of life and strengthening the economy by providing access to information, preserving and promoting Michigan's heritage and fostering cultural creativity. In addition to the Michigan Historical Center, HAL includes the Library of Michigan, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. To learn more, visit www.michigan.gov/hal.

Read more press releases from the Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL).