Old Independence Regional Museum, located at 9th & Vine Streets in Batesville, will host its annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Family Day on Saturday, Dec. 11, 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,” says Terri Crawford, the museum’s humanities educator.
Christmas carols will fill the air as local musician Ed Casper will share his gift of accordion music from 10 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 fabric ornaments decorated with a variety of ribbons and rickrack, Christmas cards, snowy pine cones, lace angels, cards, and more! An annual favorite is creating salt dough ornaments. 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.
Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, students, and military personnel, $2 for children 6-12, and free for children 5 and under.
The museum is located at 380 S. 9th St., 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.
