Preserving Our Past, Creating Our Future

I am giving a presentation to the town on the Old Stone House. We advertised it as a multi media event. The Franklin County Historical Society has it's annual meeting and always has a program and its open to the public.

This year we are doing some new things and change can be a scary thing.

We've moved the location to a spot that has a sound system, big screen, and more seating. It's always been at the Farm Bureau office - and this year we are going to the First Christian Church. It's just North of the cemetery on Hwy 65. However, there is construction! Another fly in the ointment.

I have put together a show that has 15 minutes of an old video we found in the museum of the Historical Society. Then I do a 15-20 minute slide show. The slides are ONLY pictures (thanks to advice from Becky McCray) and each picture tells a story. Or rather I do. We'll do a brief section on membership and Keri Holmes will wrap it up with a story about quilting. Following the presentation we'll be serving food and several people will be available for questions. Terry Cole from Renaissance Restoration, the ladies from the DAR, members of the Old Stone House Committee and Charlie Brown will be collecting donations.

We plan to inject a lot of energy into the program and get the entire audience interested in what we are doing at the Historical Society.

It's all about history and change -- story of the world, wouldn't you say?

This year we fully participated in online marketing as well. We used twitter, facebook, emails. We also sent a lot of press releases, got in print in Mason City and Hampton, made it on tv in Des Moines and the local radio stations picked up the event as well. We paid for one ad in our local paper. Everything else only cost us time. In New Media, time is becoming a more expensive commodity.

Who: The Public is welcome!

What: Preserving Our Past, Creating Our Future

When: Tuesday September 8 at 7 pm

Where: First Christian Church 605 4th St NE, Hampton Iowa

the church is just north of the cemetery on Hwy 65, however with construction you'll need to go into downtown, go to 12th and go East to Hwy 65 by Sandee's and go South

Why: A country without a memory is a country of madmen. George Santayana