Old Independence Regional Museum to Host Annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Family Day
Old Independence Regional Museum, located at 9th & Vine Streets in Batesville, will host its annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Family Day on Saturday, December 7th, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Admission is free for this event and families are encouraged to tour the museum and participate in all activities. “We invite people of all ages to explore the museum exhibits and to spend time crafting holiday items,” stated Terri Crawford, Humanities Educator.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will make the journey down from the north and will be available to visit with little boys and girls. Parents are welcome to bring cameras and take photos.
Christmas carols will fill the air as local musician Ed Casper will share his gift of accordion music from 10:00 a.m. until noon.
Museum guests are invited to visit craft stations throughout the museum where volunteers and staff members will be on hand to assist children with making their own handmade items. Crafts this year include tin lid ornaments, Christmas cards, pine cone trees, egg gourd ornaments and more! Families can help decorate gingerbread houses and string popcorn as well. Visitors can enjoy a holiday snack by decorating their own cookies to eat with some holiday punch.
The museum gift shop will be open during the event and “Santa’s Helpers” will be on hand to assist children in gift selection for parents, grandparents, and siblings. Free gift wrapping will accompany gift purchases. 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.
Normal museum hours are: Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5:00 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 serves on the Arkansas Travel Council Board of Directors, is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current publicity 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.