December in Review

It’s amazing how a month with only 3 work weeks can be so eventful. Since we are a part of New Mexico Junior College we happily get two weeks off for winter break which means that December only had 3 work weeks this last year. In spite of being a short month, December was sure eventful and busy.

The month started off with our 2nd Annual Christmas Traditions from Around the World event on December 1. With about 3 inches of snow on the ground that actually stayed from the night before we were not sure exactly how many people to expect but despite the weather (which did provide a beautiful scene) we still had over 350 people come out and join us for this wonderful event. We had 12 trees beautifully decorated spread throughout the Museum. Trees this year included a Western Tree, God’s Garden Tree, Purple and Silver Tree, and many more. The gift shop was also decorated for the season. Between the snow and the wonderful Christmas decorations it was hard not to be in a festive mood when you came to the Museum. The trees were put up right around Thanksgiving and remained up until we closed for break. For the Christmas Traditions event, the North Gallery of the Museum was transformed into a cultural bazaar with 14 countries represented: America, China, Colombia, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine, Scotland, and Spain. Each country had an associated decorated table with foods and/or drinks from that specific culture. Many of the tables had volunteers who not only decorated them and provided the food, but they manned the tables that night as well sharing some of their stories of why they had the certain decorations or food. It’s amazing to see so many people come together for the interest of sharing their culture. Here in Hobbs we have multiple cultures interacting and mingling all the time and thanks to URENCO, formally LES, we have even more cultures coming together sharing the same space. What is especially special is when cultures combine/help one another. Maria Vick who, with her husband, put the Spain table together saw that Germany didn’t have too many decorations so she brought her German costumes that she had at home. Also, some people couldn’t stay to man their tables. For example, I was in charge of the US Prairie table and Mary Lyle was in charge of Italy and Lebanon but we had other duties to attend to that night and so many others (even visitors) stepped up that night to stand behind the tables and hand out food and/or rag dolls. It’s a truly wonderful thing when the community can come together to learn about other cultures, help each other out, and have a good time. Besides the trees and food we also had entertainment. Doug Day played classical guitar in the South Gallery, Mary Jo Chadwick read Christmas stories in the Theater, and Accidental Harmony were the roving carolers who ventured throughout the Museum (even outside as visitors came in). Finally we once again had door prizes. We had a variety of prizes donated by various people/businesses: handmade pottery from John Lathrop and Bozena and Leszek Kaczan, Home Décor from Uptown Antiques, a Computer Bag from Staples, Children’s gifts from Walgreen’s and Lupe and Dennis Johnston. This year’s grand prize was a 32” LCD Flat Screen TV donated by Ashley Furniture Home Store and was won by a young lady and it happened to be her birthday! As I said earlier, we couldn’t have done any of this without our volunteers and staff members. It is only because everyone gave of their time selflessly that the evening turned out to be the success that it was. Thank you so much to everyone involved and stay tuned for information about the 3rd annual event! Check out either our website or find us on Facebook to see pictures from the event!! There is also now a slide-show of pictures in the right-hand menu of this blog!

A week after that wonderful event, the snow had melted and things were slowing down for the holidays…that is until December 8, 2009. On that day the beautiful red fire truck that was located in the Chuck Wagon Room was returned to the City of Hobbs. This wonderful piece of history was returned because of a lack of exhibit and storage space here at the Museum. This fire truck was the first that the Hobbs Fire Department purchased after opening in 1929 and had been on loan to us from the City of Hobbs. At the time of purchase in 1930 Harry Burnett was the Chief. The truck, a 1930 Model Seagrave 500 gpm was purchased for $12,500. According to their website, Seagrave Fire Apparatus is the oldest continuous manufacturer of fire apparatus in North America. The company was founded in 1881 in Detroit, Michigan, and moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1891. The fire truck became a town treasure after its retirement and was used in many parades until it found its place at the Museum. Since opening in 2005, visitors to the Western Heritage Museum Complex and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame have been delighted by the first fire truck of Hobbs. Such a large, colorful, well-maintained, and special piece always makes for a wonderful point of interest. We are hoping that when we get the proposed expansion with enough room to properly display and protect the fire truck that we will be able to negotiate new loan-terms so that we may once again have the privilege of displaying the first fire truck purchased at the Hobbs Fire Department. Until then, it will be missed.

On the same day that the fire truck was removed from the building we had wind gusts up to 65mph which didn’t affect the fire truck; however, our historic Eclipse windmill out front did not handle the wind well. The wind literally ripped the blades to shreds. Just that morning it was a wonderful restored Eclipse windmill, but the wind turned it into only a semblance of what it once was. At times, during the day we were afraid the whole top might snap off with the right gust of wind but thankfully that didn’t happen. At one point many of the staff and one volunteer went outside to clean up debris from the blades before they could do any damage to people, cars, or buildings. Because of the fear of flying debris (at high speeds) we even blocked the front entrance of the parking lot with a pick-up truck and a dump truck. It was amazing to see the power of nature but scary to see the results. Winds like these have not occurred in this area for almost 50 years, so some say. With winds strong enough to bend signs, snap trees, sway and topple light poles, make flags stand straight out, and shred windmill blades all we can be thankful for is that nothing worse happened. While it is never a good thing to see something like the historic windmill being torn to shreds what we have to do is move ahead, be thankful that nothing worse occurred, and plan for repairs.

Here’s the bright side: both of these points of sadness can be turned around. Assuming we can renegotiate the loan-terms with the City of Hobbs we may be able to get the fire truck back if we can make our expansion happen giving the truck its proper exhibit space. This may be a long term goal but it can be achieved. The windmill can prove to be a shorter term goal with hard work, planning, and enough money. We are hoping the insurance will pay for most of the repairs and restoration and are talking to a restorer right now. If you are interested in contributing to either project or simply want more information on how to become involved at the Museum please do not hesitate to contact us at the Western Heritage Museum Complex and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame (575-392-6730 or on the web at http://www.museumshobbsnm.org/).