By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff
The Bonner County Historical Society and Museum is combining its annual holiday party with its December History Exchange, which will mark the grand opening of a new permanent exhibit at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center (10881 N. Boyer Road).
The festivities will run from 5-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, and pair holiday activities with a chance to explore the new agriculture-themed exhibit.
“This exhibit has it all: art, history, culture and community,” said BCHS Curator and Collections Manager Olivia Fee.
BCHS created the new installation in collaboration with the University of Idaho — which runs the agriculture center and contributed farm tools to the display — and The Pend Oreille Arts Council, under the leadership of former-Board President Carol Deaner, which helped with curation and installation.
“The exhibit is not only about farming but also about the farmers’ lifestyle,” said Fee. “We have items on display, such as various historical farming and domestic tools. We also touch on how a lot of the farmers arrived by train — we have some great items representing this history, such as a train depot bench and a Northern Pacific baggage cart.”
This will be the first time many of the large-scale artifacts have been on display. In addition to the historic objects, the exhibit also includes paintings depicting rural Bonner County by local artist Connie Scherr, whose work Fee feels connects the “past to the present.”
“Bonner County is a timbered mountain location unlike the open rolling hills of the Palouse, but farming is still an important and supportive industry of this county,” said Fee. “Farming provided food and food security, long-term land stewardship and more.”
The exhibit is on display indefinitely and visitors can drop by anytime during the agriculture center’s regular business hours. The Dec. 18 opening will include refreshments, an all-aged ornament-making station and a special selection from BCHS’s gift shop.
“I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with POAC and U of I,” said Fee. “I am excited to see our community enjoy it and learn more about how our history developed.”
Visit bonnercountyhistory.org for more info.
