Fox Island will resurrect a century-old tradition of celebrating the community on July 13. Island Days is a week-long series of free events to reminisce on the island’s history. The event is a joint effort between the Fox Island Historical Museum, the Chapel on Echo Bay and the Fox Island Community and Recreation Association.
“We’ve always wanted to do something together,” museum volunteer Virdie Golliher said. “They started this event in the early 1900s as a way for the community to come together, but it tapered off over the years.”
Island Days will feature one family pioneer-type activity each day of the week except Friday, July 13-18. The event will spotlight the area’s early days and allow residents a chance to experience what life was like on the island long ago.
“They were more than just pioneers, they were trades people,” Golliher said. “We’re highlighting the way of life of the community when it was very cohesive. People got together for big church events, picnics and outings.
“This won’t be as fancy as some of the big museums; the activities will be simple. But you can experience the way people lived on the island in the early years.”
Marie Weiss, acting director of the museum, said the museum staff was inspired to start the event when they came across old photographs of old-time Island Days. Plus, the event had a special significance because the in-laws of the former director, George Miller — who passed away suddenly — had been involved in resurrecting the Island Days tradition in the 1950s.
“He really felt strongly about carrying this on, and he spent his whole retirement getting this museum up and running,” Weiss said. “His heart and soul went into this structure.”
The following are features of the event:
July 13 — Quilt historian and expert Delaine Gately
Delaine Gately will give her opinions on the history of quilting.
Residents can bring in their quilts, and Gately can offer information about a family quilt. She will share her own antique quilts, tell the quilter’s stories and share her knowledge of quilts as they relate to folk art.
Gately also will explain what treasures family quilts are and how they fit into American history. She also will talk about the replacement value and how to care for and store quilts.
July 14 — Covered wagon problem-solving game at the Chapel on Echo Bay
Using handmade wooden covered wagon replicas from the Job Carr Cabin Museum Traveling Trunks, children and adults will learn how the early pioneers traveled to the Pacific Northwest over the Oregon Trail from the 1860s through the 1880s.
Children and adults will solve the problems of what will be needed for the journey and pack the replica supplies in the covered wagons, just as Job Carr did in 1864 when he left Council Bluffs, Iowa, for the Puget Sound area.
Since all the pioneers’ supplies won’t fit in the covered wagon, each team must justify which articles to bring and which articles to leave behind.
Kathy Westlin, program director of the Job Carr Cabin Museum and a representative from its Education Committee, and two Fox Island residents — Linda Rudsit, currently a third-grade teacher at Voyager Elementary, and Kristi Anderson, a retired teacher from the Tacoma School District — will assist in the educational activity.
July 15 — Community songfest, Chapel on Echo Bay
The outdoor concert venue will lead a community songfest with Fox Island vocalist Sunnyjo Loudin and guitarist Kevin Fandel. The duo will lead the community songfest, including familiar camp songs and an updated version of “Beautiful Sylvan,” a song written about Fox Island in the early 1900s.
Loudin has performed in numerous musicals and bands for 15 years in local clubs, hotels and casinos on the West Coast and Europe. Fandel is an accomplished multi-instrument musician with a history that spans 40 years.
Guests can bring a lawn chair or a blanket and enjoy an ice cream and strawberry treat.
July 16 — Presentation by violin maker Ben Beers and historical presentation on the Rev. Wrigley by Linda Wickline
Craftsman and island resident Ben Beers will play two violins from the Fox Island Museum that he has refurbished to playing condition.
“When he came to the museum to get the violins, it was amazing,” Golliher said. “He could tell just by looking at them how they were used, just by the wear on them.”
The two violins belonged to the Rev. Francis Wrigley, who played for 12 years during his service as minister of the only church on Fox Island. Beers will discuss the Italian-style Guarneri violin, the German-style Hopf violin and his own handcrafted violins, violas and cellos.
The evening event will conclude with a short concert by Fox Island student musicians and Mary Manning, who will perform with a Ben Beers violin. Manning is an active chamber player and a member of the Puget Sound Consort and South Sound Strings. She is the principal second violin of the Northwest Sinfonietta and the Tacoma Opera Orchestra.
July 18 — Pioneer life, live demonstrations and re-enactments
The final event for Island Days will culminate in the true pioneering spirit, opening up the Fox Island Museum’s Acheson Cabin with a view of days gone by.
“It will be a lot of fun for the kids,” museum volunteer Georgia Moore said. “We’ll be dressed in period clothes and making butter from real cream. We’ll wash and dry clothes the old-fashioned way and have an old typewriter and pump organ.”
Other activities will include candle making, textile spinning and weaving, and making common pioneer toys from the period.
The Island Boy Scouts will demonstrate how to use a block and tackle.
A special Island Days 2009 logo will be given to each family as a remembrance of the week of events.
For program updates, visit www.FoxIslandMuseum.org.
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