Buchanan's Brilliant Finish

Key Ingredients is bidding farewell to the state of Georgia with gusto! This past month, the Haralson County Historical Society in Buchanan, Georgia, hosted the final exhibit opening of the state’s tour

Attendees at the opening reception in Buchanan included U.S. Congressman Phil Gingrey, who gave his remarks during the opening ceremony. In the words of Arden Williams, Program Officer for the Georgia Humanities Council, Rep. Gingrey “was quite taken with Key Ingredients and spent a lot of time viewing the exhibit.” Congressman Gingrey is an alumnus of Georgia Tech, like our very own Smithsonian Institution Secretary, Wayne Clough. In fact, they attended the university at the same time!  This is big news for Haralson County and big news for MoMS.

  
Congressman Gingrey views the exhibition and converses with Arden Williams

Hosting Key Ingredients enabled the historical society to make improvements to the Buchanan courtroom, the space in which the exhibit was showcased. Upon being chosen to host the Key Ingredients exhibit, Buchananites rolled up their sleeves to clean the courtroom from top to bottom, and began efforts to have much-needed insulation added to the ceiling. Members of the Haralson County Historical Society were impressed with the opportunity the exhibit offered them to rally community support for their work and for the facility improvements.

Historical reenactors portrayed members of the Confederate Army and offered visitors batches of “johnny cakes” and several pots of “rebel coffee” to sample. Despite being the final venue to host the exhibit, Buchanan went to great lengths to ensure attendees enjoyed a well-rounded and historically meaningful experience.

We will end our farewell to Key Ingredients with some lovely sentiments from Arden Williams herself, with whom we’ve had the pleasure of working closely for the past 3 years:

“In Georgia, we believe the Key Ingredients exhibit has made a significant impact on food traditions and culture, inspired new audience interest for our host communities and raised awareness of the humanities. All of our host site communities have been rewarded with new community partnerships and improvements as a result of hosting Key Ingredients. We think that is a winning legacy.” – Arden Williams, Program Officer, Georgia Humanities Council

- Roxanne Berschler --  SITES, Washington D.C.