1996
HOMECOMING REPORTS

Museum Report 1996

The museum has had another exciting year, starting from last Labour Day's 3rd annual Family Feud Baseball Tournament and “Walk Back Into Time - The Murder Mystery” to this years visit from Anthony Cohen.

Twelve families participated in the Family Feud Baseball Tournament on Saturday with the final game being played on Monday afternoon. It was great to see our village filled with friendly faces visiting and laughing; playing or watching the games, in other words doing what people in Buxton do best on Labour Day Weekend, just enjoying themselves. The Walk Back Into Time was once again a great success due to the was once again a great success with “The Murder Mystery”. Many people took pleasure from this event, learning a little bit more about our history. If you have never been to one, hopefully you will be able to attend this year, I guarantee that you won’t miss another. We have to thank Bryan Prince for all his time in organizing the baseball tournament and the Walk. Also thanks to everyone who participated and attended these events. Without your support they would not be the success they always are.

We are still enjoying the many visitors both coaches and drop ins coming to the museum to learn about the history of Buxton and the African Canadian Heritage tour. School tours have increased in both our half day and full day tours. We find the students enjoy and learn more during these tours since they become involved and are kept busy.

This year we are glad to have Penny To back at the museum as part of our summer student staff. Also we have Brooke Dudley, Hollie Wiseman, and Chris Prince working here. These students have provided an invaluable amount of assistance at the museum from entering on the computer to the gift shop to tour guiding. Thanks to the hiring committee who had one of the hardest tasks to perform this year and did a great job.

In April we were visited by representatives of the National Parks Service of the U.S. and our own Canadian Parks Service. They are investigating possibilities in a cooperative alliance of Underground Railroad Sites on both sides of the border. They were impressed with the original buildings that we have here in Buxton and the wealth of information and original artifacts housed in the museum.

While the representatives from the States where here we were informed about this young man who was planning to travel the Underground Railroad from Maryland to Canada. He left on May 4th and we encouraged school children to follow his journey entitled “The Walk to Canada” on the World Wide Web and experience his travels. We were thrilled when Tony Cohen arrived in North Buxton on Saturday, June 29 and spent a week staying with us and becoming part of our Buxton “family”. . He was able to speak to a number of tours in our museum. and also was featured at the annual Sunday School picnic as a speaker where he gave a wonderful talk to all those in attendance. Everyone who listened to Tony's thrilling tales of the journey had many questions for him. CBS This Morning went live from Buxton on Thursday morning and CBC also featured Tony from Buxton on Friday. We are all looking forward to the documentary and book that Tony is working on about his travels.

The museum board decided to start a building fund to do the many things that need to be done structurally within the museum but mainly to restore the schoolhouse. We have identified a number of needs and will communicating with our supporters concerning them in the near future. We are developing a number of fundraising strategies which will be used in reaching the goals we are setting for the museum. One of which is “The Family Name Quilt”. We hope that you will support the museum in it efforts to preserve the schoolhouse and artifacts within the museum. Don’t forget charity receipts are given for any donation.

Don’t forget to drop by and see us in the museum. Have a great Labour Day.

Alice Newby, Curator

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1996 Homecoming Report

1996 will mark the 72nd year the community of North Buxton has held an annual event on Labour Day Weekend. This event is known as “Homecoming”. Over the weekend various events are held with all proceeds going to maintain community property. Since 1967 The Raleigh Township Centennial Museum has played an active role in the presentation of the weekends activities. There is a family softball tounament held on Saturday sponsored by the museum. This has been our kick-off event for the past few years. All games are played in the community park with food concessions provided by the museum. This tournament has proven very popular and attracts participating families both local and returning. The format has been expanded because of it’s popularity and more teams will be included this year.

Saturday evening is when the annual Homecoming Dance is held. It is sponsored by the North Buxton Community Club. This dance is very well attended with people returning to the village from as far as California.

On Sunday the churches provide programs of worship throughout the day. Meals are served in the Church Hall. In the early evening the museum has joined in with the " Ride back in time" . This event has become very popular as the museum researches historical happenings in the community and presents them in period costume.

Monday is the big day. The activity starts at noon with the anual Homecoming Parade. The parade has participants both local and visiting. After the parade there is a schedule of activities including the championship game of the family tounament. There is a small midway with rides for the children and booths oferring goods for sale. There are museum presentations happening throughout the day as well.

Our Homecoming has been a wonderful experience for all those who have participated over the years. This village of a couple of hundred residents and it’s annual event manage to attract upwards of 3000 people from year to year. They come for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is all have a great time. Every one is welcome to participate.

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website created July 2008; updated November 2009; by Lori Gardner