Hands On History Day in Havre

Yesterday I was traveling on US Hwy 2 heading towards Havre. I heard an ad on the radio for Havre’s Hands On History Day being held at Holiday Village Mall. I hadn’t planned on stopping but the mall is right on Hwy 2, easy access, and I would be driving right by it.

So, I turned in to the parking lot and realized something BIG must be going on! Tons of cars although it was mid afternoon on a Saturday and it could have just been shoppers. And, maybe I was missing a great sale!

As I walked in to the main entrance of the mall it didn’t take long to figure out that the Hands on History event was the draw for many of the people there.

Tables were set up in the middle of each aisle of the mall’s wings. The first one I came to was staffed by the local Black Powder club. All things necessary to do black powder shooting, including the traditional garb, were displayed.

These guys looked like they were having a great time in costume and talking about their passion.

The next table I stopped at was showing how to make mosaic designs using colored eggshells, a timely skill following on the heels of egg-dyeing season.

I talked with this young girl and she explained that she was using glue to attach the eggshells. She was working on her third mosaic masterpiece.

She was very precise in her eggshell application and the next photo will show the results of her carefully designed project.

Each table that I stopped at had a local business sponsor and I assumed that was to help offset the cost of some of the materials and cover some of their advertising. It was nice to see local businesses investing in history education for the area’s youth.

I chuckled as I saw two different tables demonstrating how to do laundry. One was simply a washboard in a bucket and the girl doing that was attacking her laundry with zest!

The next laundry station was an old-fashioned wringer washing machine. I wanted to give the young boy trying that some tips like watch out for buttons and zippers. They could look a lot different when the garment comes out of the wringer.

It was fun to watch the kids learning history with some “hands-on” methods. And, I must confess, it wasn’t just kids who learned things! Adults, including myself, stood and watched some of the demonstrations.

Kudos to Holiday Village Mall in Havre for hosting this event and the event organizers for doing all the prep work.