News from the Ohio River Museum (November 2010)

We here at the Ohio River Museum would like to extend the Sons & Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen this special invitation to play a significant part in the development and implementation of a new river festival planned for the museum next summer.

We need you! Slated for Saturday and Sunday August 6-7, 2011 on the grounds of the museum, the INLAND WATERWAYS FESTIVAL, promises to be the largest undertaking by the Friends of the Museums in Marietta since assuming management of the museums last fall. If successful, this initial event will become a major fundraiser for the museum annually. It will also honor and promote the importance of rivers in the development of the Nation.

We are looking for people who are willing to share their passion for our inland waterways with the public by helping us in bringing and displaying historic boats (both models and full-sized), assisting in a tent for S&D, story-telling, and help in running games and other river-related activities. As of this writing we have scheduled the following activities:

• on-going demonstrations, music, hands-on activities, tours, boat displays, all examining 200+ years of inland waterways history
• exploration of all aspects of river transportation from dug-out canoes (we will be working on one) to diesel powered towboats that will be docked near the museum for the event
• interaction with many historical characters who lived and traveled the inland waterways through first person story-tellers
• a major focus on the connection between the Ohio River and France through French-Canadian music, food and historical exhibits
• celebration of the Bicentennial of the NEW ORLEANS, the first steamboat (1811) to travel the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
• calliope and steamboat whistles, flatboats, and historic craft on the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers
• encampments of river pirates and "voyageurs"
• displays, lectures, demonstrations on the inland waterways today, including environmental changes, fish, mussels, and wildlife

If you are a "behind the scenes" person or someone who is willing to be actively involved during the festival (supervise an event, be a first person re-enactor or recommend someone who is, etc.) or be on a committee, give us a call. If you can, contact Glenna Hoff at 740-373-3750 or ghoff@campusmartiusmuseum.org.