New interactive room coming to museum
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FAIRMONT-- The Martin County Historical Society is in the process of putting together a new interactive room which will feature a variety of artifacts safe for touch.
As for why the museum added the room, Curator James Marushin said, "we wanted to do something different than what we had. A lot of our displays are visual but not everyone is a visual learner. Some people like to be hands-on."
"Children and adults can manipulate items," added Director Lenny Tvedten.
Some of the items include a corn grader, butter churn, piano, 1983 working computer, a number of telephones from different eras, switchboards, cash registers and scales-- one from Harnden Market and another from the Northrop Tavern.
"We'll also have a big screen TV that we'll have the ability to show historic Power Points and oral history interviews on," Tvedten said.
The new interactive room was once filled with other displays which have either been rotated to other rooms or put into storage for the time being.
Work on the new room began some time ago but has been delayed for one reason or another. A big milestone was reached when murals on the walls were recently completed. The work was paid for thanks to a grant from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council.
"We wanted to represent the entire county in one way or another," said Tvedten.
Local artist Alexandra Hurney has painted murals on all four of the walls in the interactive room which depict the different communities in Martin County.
"We picked what we thought was unique and representative of each community," Tvedten said of the various scenes on the walls. "She did a great job with it."
Hurney has also painted the mural upstairs at The Marina Lodge in Fairmont and she's painted many of the hog statues around the county for Going Hog Wild.
Speaking of her work on the murals, Hurney said, "It was neat learning about the community I call home. I loved hearing the stories and seeing old photos and then turning those into images to put on the wall and represent each town in Martin County."
The room is making progress but some other things need to be done before it's completed. Tvedten said they're having a custom table made by Fox Lake Furniture with Fairmont's five lakes in the center and other promotional items from around the county depicted on the sides.
They also need to figure out a means of displaying all of the artifacts. However, Tvedten said they won't be typical displays as they need to allow for the items to be manipulated.
"We also need to come up with a brief history for each of the items," Tvedten said.
Marushin said they'll also put together a program to let people know what each of the mural paintings depict as some are a very unique part of history relating to each community.
The room should be completed this year and both Tvedten and Marushin are eager to see it done and for the community to come in and experience it.
"The room will serve as another way to educate people on the way things used to be," said Tvedten.