Museum Modifies Annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Family Day
Old Independence Regional Museum will offer a modified version of its annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Family Day. “During this pandemic, we still want families to be able to celebrate the holidays with old-fashioned crafts and activities despite limited gatherings. Therefore, families are invited to stop by the museum to collect a free activity kit to take home with them.” Kits may be picked up in the museum gift shop, located at 9th & Vine Streets in Batesville, on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, December 10-12, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
Each kit contains supplies for a variety of activities, including brown paper and stencils for small hands to make their own garland, yarn to create mini ornaments to celebrate the usefulness and popularity of knit hats, and colored paper and wooden beads to fashion Christmas poinsettias. Packaging from the activity kit can even be made into a luminary! Traditionally, family day attendees would make dough ornaments on site, so supplies will be included to make cinnamon dough at home. In lieu of decorating cookies, families can study historic baking recipes to compare to modern-day sweets. The free kits can be picked up in the museum gift shop, one per child while supplies last.
The museum gift shop has several new items for your holiday shopping including ornaments, travel mugs, and coasters. Items feature historic images of Independence County such as steamboats, bridges, and buildings, as well as the new Independence County seal and flag. Independence County bicentennial coins are also available in silver or bronze. The gift shop carries books and toys, as well as a variety of educational, local, and handcrafted items, many of which are priced for small pockets. Gift wrapping is available upon request.
To request curbside service, please call (870) 793-2121.
Museum hours during the COVID-19 pandemic are: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors, students, and military personnel, $2.00 for children 6-12, and free for children 5 and under. The museum is located at 380 South 9th street, between Boswell and Vine Streets in Batesville.
Old Independence is a regional museum serving a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820’s Arkansas territory.
This humanities program is made possible by local support from Independence County and the City of Batesville, as well as by Challenge Grant Endowment funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Cathy Drew is a lifelong resident of the region that she loves to promote. She was born in downtown Batesville in the late ’60s, located in one of the eight counties she now enjoys encouraging people to visit.
Drew became associated with the Ozark Gateway Region in 1990 while working at the ad agency (The Media Market Inc.). The agency handled marketing for the regional association, where she and her co-workers produced an annual tabloid publication. She began working as the Ozark Gateway Region director in June 2000.
After Drew became director, she took the region to the next level by helping the tourism organization create a new website and moved it from the old newspaper paper tabloid publication to a color magazine format. She helped open a visitor center for the Ozark Gateway, allowing visitors to pick up information from the entire state 24/7. Over the years, Drew has helped the organization meet new marketing goals, such as in- and out-of-state marketing, assuring that all 100,000 copies of their magazines are distributed each year.
In 2016, she assisted in creating the first Ozark Gateway Region Golf Classic. The tournament continues to grow each year, allowing the organization to expand its co-op program and helping each county have dedicated promotion. Drew stays busy at Ozark Gateway as the ad sales manager, magazine editor, day-to-day office operations, trade show representative, and magazine distribution representative, all while ensuring that the region is represented all over Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Drew was featured in several local and statewide publications over the years, as well as the 1997 cover of the Ozark Gateway Region tabloid, along with her then 4-year-old son, Jon. She has received several awards, such as the Batesville Rotarian of the Year in 2010 and a three-time Paul Harris Fellow.
She also has served as an Independence County election commissioner for several years. She now serves as their co-election coordinator, helping with behind-the-scenes management of voting equipment, day-to-day election deadlines, and poll worker training.
Drew is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current membership chair.
In March of 2018, Drew was honored with induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame for her many years of dedicated service to the tourism industry.