FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Blanchard
November 22, 2007
(701) 825-6840
ENJOY AN AFTERNOON OF GOOD CHEER
AT PEMBINA STATE MUSEUM’S HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE DECEMBER 9
PEMBINA – The Pembina State Museum will welcome the winter holiday season during its eighth annual Holiday Open House on Sunday, December 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. Visitors will have the chance to string popcorn, make their own Christmas ornaments, and decorate the tree. There will also be festive music, crafts, and games for both young and old, along with plenty of holiday cheer.
All events, including admission to the seven-story observation tower that overlooks the Red River Valley, are free and open to the public. The December 9 open house is sponsored by the State Historical Society of North Dakota and the Fort Pembina Historical Society.
Members of the Fort Pembina Historical Society will be on hand to answer questions about the organization and to give updates on the group’s ongoing project to restore the Ukrainian Orthodox Church located in Pembina.
Managed by the State Historical Society, the 12,000-square-foot Pembina State Museum houses two museum galleries. The permanent exhibit gallery features 100 million years of regional history from the Cretaceous Period to contemporary times. The second gallery houses temporary and traveling exhibits highlighting regional and state history.
Visitors will also see the exhibit, Sister Rosalia’s Lace, which features the beautiful and intricate bobbin lace works created by Sister Rosalia Haberl (1897-1998), a Franciscan Sister from the convent in Hankinson, North Dakota. This traveling exhibit was produced by the North Dakota Council on the Arts. It will be at the museum through January 6, 2008.Another exhibit at the Pembina State Museum is Looking Back: Pembina’s Flood Battles, which examines the struggles the city’s residents have faced with flooding during the past 150 years, including battles both won and lost. Pembina’s location at the confluence of the Red and Pembina Rivers was of strategic importance to early fur traders, but it has had its disadvantages as well, as the exhibit illustrates. It will be at the museum through May 11, 2008.
The Pembina State Museum is located off Exit 215 on I-29 at Pembina, North Dakota. Admission is free. There is no charge for children ages 12 and under to visit the observation tower. The tower charge for youth ages 13 to 18 is 50 cents, and $2 for adults. It is open year-round, closed only on New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
For more information, call the Pembina State Museum at (701) 825-6840 or visit the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s web site at www.nd.gov/hist.