The Museum on Main Street team spent Thursday out on the National Mall during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. We were part of "Smithsonian Inside Out," a special Folklife Festival program to feature all of the work that goes on behind the scenes at the Smithsonian. We were really excited to have a day to talk about the great work that our host communities do all over the country.
And, so many of you stopped by to see us! It was a beautiful, surprisingly pleasant day for a Washington, DC July. Many people were out enjoying the festival and learning more about the Smithsonian. All of our activities were inspired by our exhibitions and local programs across the nation. We invited our visitors to decorate their own "mini-picket" to help build a fence, make some musical spoons, or share their personal journey story on the Journey Stories website.
The inspiration for the fence came from the many Between Fences host communities that have asked local students and artists to decorate fence pickets. Host sites have then built their own fence sections decorated by their communities. We wanted to do the same thing at the festival. Check out our visitors' handiwork.
The greatest pleasure of the day was sharing Museum on Main Street with visitors to the festival. So many were pleased to hear about the work that the Smithsonian and State Humanities Councils do to reach communities in nearly every state.
To the visitors that stopped by to say hello, thank you. We hope that you have an opportunity to visit us in your home states.
-- Robbie Davis, Museum on Main Street, SITES, Washington, DC
