One reason I love my job is the varied day to day areas of responsibility. A typical day includes facility management, historic preservation, general accounting and event planning, but some days include vacuuming and making bloody mary’s for guests. This week I added one more activity to the ‘other duties as assigned’ category-actress. I dragged my co-worker, Amanda, into this one as well!

In partnership with the Mower County Historical Society and the Friends of the Library, we have hosted regular History Happy Hour events for more than five years now. Often the topic has a connection to Mower County, but we deviated a bit this month and decided to feature the history of the holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Randy Forster, Director of the MCHS as well as Summerset Theatre, took the event one step beyond history and arranged for a group of actors to present the story as if on stage.

I was cast as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Amanda played the scary silent character, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The cast included Tiny Tim, Mr. Cratchit, Ebenezer Scrooge and many more characters. Forster directed the group of willing (and some reluctant) actors for a fun portrayal of a historic story.

History Happy Hour is a great example of organizations joining forces to produce something greater than the individual. Through collaboration we can reach more people and share the work and the reward. And it’s good to be pushed outside one’s comfort zone once in a while. Speaking of comfort zone, in October of 2020 we have planned a program about a topic that is outside of mine-haunted houses.

The History Happy Hour planning team will be collecting stories from community members about seemingly haunted places or events in Mower County. After the first of the year we will ask you to share your stories and local Austinite, Wendy Larson, will present a selection of your submissions in October. In case you are wondering, the Hormel Historic Home is not haunted.

There is no regular day at the Hormel Historic Home. They are all different, and that is good.

---

Historic Treasures Series

• 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 9
• Presented by Jaimie Timm, Curator Mower County Historical Society.  Free

History Happy Hour: 100 Year History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

• 5:30 p.m. Social, 6 p.m. Presentation, Monday, Jan. 13
• Free for members of the HHH, Mower County Historical Society, and the Friends of the Library. $5 for non-members