The Empire Area Museum celebrates Heritage Day this year on Saturday, from 1 to 4 p.m. with old-time music and old-fashioned arts and crafts and tricks and treats.
The entire Empire Area Museum complex will be opened on Heritage Day, including the main museum and store, the one-room schoolhouse, the fire-hose house, and the Billy Beeman Barn. Must-see exhibits include the turn-of-the-century Empire saloon and kitchen, the blacksmith and woodworking shops, the railroad and lumbering exhibits, and several old-time vehicles, including horse-drawn wagons and sleighs, early motor cars, and an authentic 1956 Sleeping Bear Dunesmobile.
The museum’s newest acquisition — the original butcher-block table from the old Deering grocery store — is on display in the Billy Beeman Barn.
Treats include Moomers ice cream, free popcorn and samples of homemade maple sugar candy, sauerkraut cake,
apple cider and butter made on site. Exhibits include demonstrations of
yarn spinning, hand quilting, rug hooking, chair caning, corn shelling, washboard laundering, sauerkraut making and log cutting.
Admission to the Empire Area Museum and Heritage Day celebration is
free. Local history books, children’s stories and other merchandise may
be purchased to help support the museum, and donations are appreciated.
Note that the Glen Lake Fire Department station next door will be open for tours as well.
