No pie, ice cream, water or other food items for sale
IMLAY CITY — Board members and volunteers at the Imlay City Historical Museum are eager to open their doors to visitors during the Summer Fest.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, an illness and injury of museum workers, plans for the Summer Fest have been revised. The museum will be open both days, however, there will be no pie, ice cream, water or other food items for sale.
As always, festival guests can stroll through the caboose and dining car located right outside of the museum building, and then make their way through the building for an interesting and unique variety of historic displays.
“We’ve been busy throughout the winter setting up new exhibits, and we think people will find them interesting,” Swihart says.
Among those interesting displays is ‘A Walk in the Woods,’ featuring tools, implements and other useful and decorative items made of wood.
“You can see all that Mother Nature provides,” Swihart says. “We have shoes, rolling pins, and a hand carved wooden chain from the Catholic church, along with many other wooden items.”
Another noteworthy display is ‘Our Agricultural Heritage,’ Swihart says, put together in memory of the late Gerald Nelson, longtime Imlay City area farmer.
Visitors will also have an opportunity to learn about the history of milk stations and creameries that existed in Imlay City.
An exhibit in the museum’s Annex Building features artifacts from Imlay City’s own DeLuxe Theater, a history of laundry machines—from the washboard to the present day—and a fascinating glimpse into flax farming and harvesting, which is tied to the O’Neil/Farley Farm and the Brinker Farm, and was used to produce cloth for clothing.
“Linen comes from flax,” Swihart says. “The exhibit includes information about the flax crop itself and of the yarn that becomes linen. It’s fascinating as flax goes back to biblical times.”
The Imlay City Historical Museum is located at 77 N. Main Street downtown. The museum is open every Saturday from 1-4 p.m. throughout the summer. To volunteer, become a member, make a donation or for more information, call the museum at 810-724-1111 or find them at www.facebook.com/imlaymuseum/.
