Road Reports

Singing in the Kitchen Program Wows the Crowd in Chisholm, Minnesota

I just wanted to scribble a quick note to say that "Singing in the Kitchen", a youth program led by Minnesota musician and educator Charlie Maguire, was a major success here at Ironworld. We had 120 people in the audience at Ironworld tonight and 11 new young spoon and jaw harp players graced us with their talent.  This provided a great opportunity for Ironworld to reach out to the local community.  As always, Charlie wowed the students in the classroom and managed to draw every student into participating.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Minnesota Humanities Center for making the Minnesota tour of Key Ingredients possible. It has been a bit of a bumpy ride for us here at Ironworld as we get on our feet as an independent museum. Right now in particular we need all of the support we can from other professional institutions. Key Ingredients has been just wonderful for us in that respect, in particular all of the “extras” that you all have made possible—the poetry books, the placemats, the activity fold outs.

I’m headed home in a few minutes, but I wanted to make sure to send out this note before I left. Ironworld was filled with music and excitement surrounding Key Ingredients tonight and that would not have been possible with out you.

-- Contributed by Jennifer Rian, Education Coordinator, Ironworld Development Corporation, Chisholm, MN.

Questa, New Mexico Opens Key Ingredients with Food and Flamenco!

The historic, tiny mountain town of Questa, New Mexico is the second host of the state’s tour of Key Ingredients. At the August opening several hundred residents descended on the Artesanos de Questa Cultural Center to celebrate their distinct culinary traditions. Craig Newbill, Executive Director of the New Mexico Humanities Council, spoke briefly about the importance of maintaining history and unique cultural identities.  A troupe of young flamenco dancers, plenty of munchies, and a champagne toast to the volunteers opened the exhibit. Local exhibitions that supplement the Smithsonian’s display include historic photographs and stories of food traditions at weddings and funerals, and a full recreation of an early camper’s meal at the annual fall deer hunt. Key Ingredients remains in Questa until September 21^st and then moves to the Sandoval County Historical Society in Bernalillo on September 28. For more information contact K. Michelle Quisenberry at 505.277.3705.

Contributed by Brian Crockett, MoMS, Albuquerque, NM