Dinner to raise funds for museum

A fundraising dinner benefitting the Pioneer Historical Museum in Farmington is planned for Aug. 12 at the Farmington Community Center, across the street from the museum.

The dinner will be served from 6 p.m., and the drawing for prizes will be at 7:30 p.m.

The menu includes a large meatball, au gratin potatoes, green beans, salad, homemade roll and dessert. The cost is $5.

Contributions of $10 or $25 will enter the donor?s name in drawings for prizes.

Receipts are available recognizing contributions for income tax purposes.

Anyone who cannot attend the dinner, but would like to contribute to the Pioneer Historical Museum fund can do so by making a check out to the same and mailing it to PO Box 132, Farmington 52626.

Museum supporters also pointed out another method of keeping the museum operating is to remember it in estate planning.

The museum started many years ago when the Congressional Church closed.

When the museum organizers died or moved away, no one stepped forward to keep the museum open and it closed in the late 1980s.

The building, which is the oldest Congregational Church building west of the Mississippi River, sat empty until a few years ago when a group of citizens decided to open it back up because it contained many interesting photos, articles and items important to the history of Farmington.

Several women have faithfully opened the museum Saturday and Sunday afternoons for the past couple of years.

The committee had the roof repaired and painted, and this summer, the focus is on repairing and painting windows and the exterior of the building.

The committee is hoping to raise enough money to pay for the work, plus purchase dehumidifiers. The committee would like to run the dehumidifiers in the summer and the furnace in the winter to help keep the building dry and the mold problem down. Because the building sat without being opened or heated for years, mold has become a problem that needs corrected.

Many of the items in the museum need to be cleaned, restored and displayed correctly, which also will be a cost to the committee.

The Aug. 12 dinner will help raise funds needed for the projects at the museum