Historical Museum Update

I posted a couple of years ago about Gilbert's Historical Museum, which is located on the corner of Elliot and Gilbert.

The East Valley Tribune has an update on the happenings at the museum:

Two years after hiring its first executive director, the Gilbert Historical Museum is preparing new exhibits that will tell the story of the town and honor a fallen police officer.

Director Kayla Kolar said in one year the museum’s attendance has grown by 1,000 guests to 5,000 total. For the privately operated museum to survive, the new exhibits must bring in more visitors, she said.

More volunteers could also help preserve the town’s history by helping to run the museum or quilt to raise money.

“I hope we’ll be here forever,” she said. “But we won’t without the public’s support.”

The new exhibits include a firefighter and police officer display that was envisioned after Brigitte Targosz, wife of Rob Targosz, the town’s first officer to be killed while on duty, asked whether the museum could educate children about their heroes.

Firefighter uniforms and history has already begun to be displayed, but the full exhibit will open in September with real police car lights children can turn on and a police motorcycle and firetruck seats they can sit in. They can also get an understanding of all the equipment that firefighters wear.

Also under construction with plans to open during November’s Gilbert Days is a miniature train town portraying where the trains came from when Gilbert first appeared as a rail depot. During World War I, the town hailed itself as the hay capital of the world, sending hay all the way to Europe.

A new occupations room is also under way, which will highlight Gilbert’s original jobs, including farming of cotton and alfalfa. It also is expected to open in November.

And the museum is also organizing a historical library that visitors could visit by appointment, to research old newspapers on CDs and view a variety of books about the town’s history.

A pictorial history book about the town from the 1800s will also go on sale soon, and orders are being taken now for the $40 book, which is $100 leatherbound. The book is written by Dale Hallock, Gilbert’s mayor in the 1970s, when the town strip annexed 57 miles to expand what was then a tiny community of only two miles.

The museum was awarded a $6,000 grant to match $6,000 of raised funds, to help put together the new exhibits. An additional donation helped fund the new research library.

June Morrison, whose family has a long history in town, spends much of her time volunteering at the library.

“This little town had a lot of good character,” she said. Future exhibits will include the story of her family, which is now developing Morrison Ranch.

Margaret Frazier and Iva Ruth, two of the museum’s volunteer quilters who worked Thursday on a quilt made from blue flowery and white feedbacks, said it’s important to them that history be preserved for future generations. Children today are often surprised and intrigued as the women tell stories of their dramatically different youth, when chamber pots and butter churns were the norm, Frazier said.

“When history is gone, it’s gone,” she said.

Tickets to the museum, at 10 S. Gilbert Road, at Gilbert and Elliot roads, are $3 for adults, $1.50 for children, and memberships start at $20. For more information or to volunteer call (480) 926-1577 or visit www.gilbertmuseum.com.

Check it out.

Rain in the Ranch

While The Mister and I were out of town, the rain gauge just kept increasing; adding up all the numbers, there was an inch of rain over the last 2 1/2 weeks.

Yesterday's storm had lots of wind, and reports of flooding in Tempe; but in Morrison Ranch, we only saw .02 inch by midnight last night.

Back From Africa

I really wanted to title this post "Out of Africa", but I just couldn't do it. We are, however, home again. There are some things happening around Morrison Ranch, and until we can recover enough from jet lag to catch up on them, I want to share just a few thoughts and photos. It's hard to cull a few from the 362 pictures that we took, but here is my attempt:




These are some palm trees that split at the top and then grow new fronds. They would make a great addition to the Morrison Ranch palm circles, but I'm not sure we could get them. Our friend calls them "Dr. Seuss trees."

Our main reason for going was to have some discussions with young entrepreneurs in Nairobi about running their business, and also to discuss some mentoring relationships. The political climate has changed drastically since our last visit six years ago, and businesses are flourishing and the economic climate feels generally positive. Our young friends are taking advantage of the opportunities, and we are delighted to see them succeed.

The Mister found a new audience to display all the good things he carries around all the time, including duct tape and his leatherman:




After four days of meetings, we needed a break; so we headed north to Samburu for a short safari. The open-air vehicles provide a great, unobstructed view of the animals and birds, and even a good view of the second vehicle:




We were fortunate to see everything we wished to see, except a rhino, and some animals that only inhabit the Samburu region. For instance, the reticulated giraffe; the ones that live here have a different spotting pattern than the common giraffe we usually see, and they are beautiful:





I have always thought that the Arizona sun has a corner on the market when it comes to beauty in going down or coming up. I still think that's true; but Africa definitely has a ton of natural beauty, including the sunrise:





It was a good trip; we were fortunate to have all but one of our kids with us, and we saw some amazing things and met some awesome people.

Now if The Mister and I can figure out how to sleep through the night, we'll get back to work on Morrison Ranch, and we'll keep you updated.

We Interrupt This Blog...

The only two things in this picture representative of our family is the blue suitcase and the fact that these folks are off to some adventure. One of the notable characteristics of The Mister is that he is a lifetime learner, always looking to expand the database of his mind, and enrich the experiences of his family. This means that we rarely have taken a typical family vacation; we tend more toward the VWAPs (vacations with a purpose). To date, the requirements have been to know someone in the location who can show us around with a local point of view, and to learn as much as possible about the country/culture/environment. Having someone in our party who speaks the language is also a plus.

All of this is an introduction to news of our departure for 2 weeks to Kenya, and to explain that I am most heartily sorry that we probably won't be posting during those 2 weeks. Even though we should have some internet access, it is very difficult to pass on the news about Morrison Ranch in any sort of timely way when we are involved in other endeavors. It's always in the back of my mind, though, so there may be a post or two.

For the curious, this doesn't really even qualify as a VWAP, even though all but one of our children will be joining us, and we will get to go on a short 2-day safari. This trip is more of a WAP; we will be conducting focus groups with young Kenyan businessmen and discussing entrepreneurship and business skills with them. We do have some friends in Nairobi, and we will have the ability to communicate in English, though accented. The Mister has, however, been polishing up his few Swahili words.

Until we return...

Grocery Thoughts

Food is never very far from my mind; eating it, preparing it, shopping for it - quickly, and near by.

So I am delighted to see the parking lot at Lakeview Village full of cars pretty much every day, and to hear the positive comments of my neighbors about the new Basha's. My car has been in that lot frequently, as well (since I end up shopping in the afternoons when it's very warm for biking). Along with those neighbors, I really want the Basha's to succeed, and I believe they will.

Yesterday's AZ Republic had an article on the grocers' plight, and it brought up a couple of interesting points:

Gilbert's grocery market is seeing a lot of turnover.

Bashas' plans to open a store at Val Vista Drive and Queen Creek Road in September and has opened a store in a former Albertsons at Higley and Elliot roads. Two Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets are coming to town, at the intersections of Higley and Ray and Greenfield and Warner.

Yet in 2006, five Gilbert grocery stores - three Albertsons and two Henry's Farmers Market stores - closed. The last day of business for Sunflower Farmers Market is July 25.

The article does say that Albertson's closing was due to its corporate sale, and of course, Basha's replaced the Albertson's store at Lakeview Village. I know that there is much competition in the grocery arena and that profit margins are smaller than in many other businesses, such as restaurants. However, since food is not an optional commodity, grocery stores will always be with us. And as Gilbert continues to grow, albeit a little slower than in years past, more grocers will be needed, not less. You can read the rest of the article for the nuances if you are interested.

By the way, the Fresh and Easy stores that they say will be opening not far from Morrison Ranch residents are the Tesco-owned markets coming from England. They sound interesting.

Walls

OK, so it is just a lone wall out in the dirt. The point is, that things keep happening at Lakeview Trails North. All the walls being constructed are along streets and parks. So the wall needs to be in place before landscaping can be installed. That is because the irrigation needs to be installed right at the edge, but not be destroyed later. It would be impossible, as a practical matter, to install the irrigation along a line, and then have contractors come in and build the wall later.

This wall, and the others behind it, are definitely early. No landscape is being installed soon. But having it done means we are that much closer. Major irrigation pipelines are being installed as well, and that doesn't show. But the progress is rapid at this point. If the monsoon holds off, Morrison Ranch Parkway will be paved from Higley to Recker in two weeks. Yippee!

Streets

I took this picture on the 3rd, and now the road is paved! We get so excited about little things, but it is great to see pavement on the interior streets of Lakeview Trails North. And, of course, Ashton-Woods, has their models well under way. Progress!

Yes, we are still farming

Southeast of Recker and Elliot, on what will soon be Lakeside Groves, are Fields 11 & 24. (The numbers make sense if you have enough history, but I will not take the time now.) And those fields have sillage corn lovingly grown by my cousins, the Ross brothers. The machine chopping the corn is a Krone. This is the biggest chopper I have ever seen. It takes down eight rows at a time, and uses 800 HORSEPOWER to chop them all simultaneously. And the machine is NOT crawling through the field. It MOVES. So if you want to see this in person, GO NOW or the job will be done, and the chopper gone. OK, lots of caps in this post, but it is a testosterone moment.