2007
HOMECOMING REPORTS

It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone and we are blessed to be celebrating our 83rd Homecoming. In spite of the inclement weather that we encountered last year, the festivities were thoroughly enjoyed by all that attended. Thanks to the organizers, participants and volunteers of the history/genealogy conference, the baseball and basketball tournaments, the car show, the finale of the "Ride Back In Time", the parade and the official ribbon cutting of the Colbert/Henderson log cabin.

The museum participated and organized the National Historic Sites Alliance of Ontario's annual conference that was held at the North American Black Historical Museum in Amherstburg. There were 65 representatives from the family of National Historic Sites across Ontario and 1 from British Columbia. The museum also hosted a pre-conference tour of the Underground Railroad museums in this area.

We also participated and co-sponsored a "Tourism Keys" workshop for businesses and sites in Chatham Kent. This was a web enhancement and internet marketing workshop which was quite informative for all that attended. Our Black History program was a breasted chicken dinner and a play, "Rainbows and Wings", which was written by Michael McDonald. The play takes place in Chatham where John Brown is trying to recruit men to participate in his raid on Harpers Ferry.

Our grant application to the Ontario's Community Builders program was approved which enabled us to see one of our dreams become a reality. A replica of the Buxton Liberty Bell, cast by Brett Davis was on display at the Legislature for two months. Our deepest gratitude to Minister Mike Colle, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration for the funding and for also hosting a reception at Queen's Park in honour of the bell for Black History Month. Many descendants, family and friends made the trek down to the hill for this momentous occasion.

One of the highlights occurred when Governor General Michelle Jean rang the bell at a ceremony which was held a York University in Toronto to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Trans Atlantic slave trade. The bell is one of the lasting symbols of freedom not only for those who arrived in Buxton but for all Canadians. Please take a moment this weekend to reflect upon your own ancestors as we dedicate the bell to them.

You will also notice our enhanced Labour Day program for this year. We applied for one time funding through the Ministry of Tourism. Our "Celebrate Ontario" grant was approved which assisted with the additional musical and marketing components for the weekend.

Staff and board were quite busy with speaking engagements in Toronto Windsor, London, St Catharine’s, Dresden, Cambridge, Cincinnati and Ridgetown.  Some of our exhibits and artifacts were on display in Burlington and Toronto. We have new traveling display panels which resulted from funds from the Cultural Strategic Development Fund. There was an Underground Railroad Network that was organized with fourteen UGRR sites in Southwest and Central Ontario.

This group also produced UGRR brochures and guide books with the assistance from the Cultural Strategic Development Fund through the Ministry of Tourism. Staff also participated in staff development by attending a Cultural Resource Management course. This course assists with re-enforcing our Commemorative Integrity Statement and is a management tool. I also successful completed the courses for my certificate in museum studies.

The museum also hosted the Municipality of Chatham Kent Safety committee and the Drainage department and the Investors Group, for meetings and also a tour. We also provided diversity awareness for recruitment officers for the Canadian Armed forces. We provided two P.A. day programs for children for Halloween and Christmas. Children enjoyed activities in the log cabin, the museum and school. We are participating in the cultural mapping/cultural tourism program sponsored by the Municipality of Chatham Kent. This identifies the cultural resources within the Municipality that are tourism ready. As you wonder the museum grounds you will notice some landscaping improvements. We are grateful to the Union Gas/Duke Energy for their financial assistance and for volunteering to help plant, weed, trim and to beautify our museum grounds.

There is also an addition to the Colbert/Henderson log cabin -a fence. We are appreciative for the funding and installation by the Canadian Questers Chapter 124 from Windsor. The museum has also seen many upgrades from new carpeting, new lighting, and wash room access from inside the museum to hot water!

We also hosted a volunteer workshop where 25 participants were provided with a tour to illustrate the variety of possibilities where volunteers can be utilized. We are very appreciative for our volunteers that help with bingos, tours, and landscaping. We are presently undertaking a long range plan for the museum. There are several projects and upgrades to the facility we would like to do - such as upgrade our storage facility, making improvements to museum for additional office, exhibit, research and gift shop space, Baptist Church restoration and increase of staff hours.

Thanks to Joyce Middleton for re-designing and updating our web site. Check it out!

We have seven new staff members who joined the museum on a Job Creation Program supervised by Joyce Middleton and Audrey Prince. Welcome to David Jenner, Scott McGuigan, Derry McKeever, Scott Grexton, Chris Jones and Janice LaSalle.

We would also like to welcome our summer students - Blair Newby and Kara Shadd Evelyn. They also offered a summer heritage program for students.

As we celebrate this homecoming, please remember the sacrifices our ancestors made for our freedom.

Shannon Prince, Curator

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