A crowd of about 500 people enjoyed a brilliant, sunny afternoon Saturday as part of the Empire Heritage Day celebration.

ATTENDEES AT THE Empire Heritage Day celebration Saturday are shown inside on the main floor main museum building, and outside the Empire Museum complex while participating in a range of activities. Photo courtesy of Dave Taghon

David Taghon, an Empire Heritage Museum founder and event organizer, said he was pleasantly surprised by the number of folks who stopped by to watch a demonstration or two.

“I think this was one our biggest turnouts. The guy who does our apple cider demonstration said he usually goes through three gallons, doled out in those small Dixie Cups. He brought four gallons on Saturday and went through every drop,” Taghon said.

In addition to the 15 exhibitors who gave demonstrations that demonstrated that ranged from making bricks to churning butter, Taghon said about a dozen people brought their old tractors, cars, trucks and bicycles to put on display as well.

Empire Heritage Day is a chance for those who have volunteered at the museum to put on one final show for the season before the complex cuts back its hours for the fall and winter seasons. Taghon was worried about attendance since the event was always scheduled on the same day as the Glen Arbor Women’s Club Smorgasbord fundraiser.

However, this year the club decided to abandon the smorgasbord and instead held a running race at the end of July.

“I always thought the turnout here was tied to the smorgasbord. But, we had a really great crowd this year,” he said.

The weather may have had something to do with it. Abundant sunshine, leaves turning color and more seasonable fall temperatures brought droves of visitors to the county. Taghon said they had lots of people who were out for an afternoon drive stop by and take in the exhibits.

“We had plenty of volunteers, everyone came out to help. It was just a great day,” he said.

The Empire Area Heritage Group will hold its monthly meeting on Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. in the museum complex. The meeting is open to the public and all are welcomed to attend.