Join Us For the 87th Annual East Poultney Day on Saturday, August 13
The historic East Poultney green will be the setting for The Poultney Historical Society’s yearly fundraiser, the 87th Annual East Poultney Day on Saturday, August 13th from 9am to 3pm.
This year, with severe weather often the lead story in the news, the focus is on the history of our local weather events with the theme, “Extreme Weather: The Many Faces of Mother Nature in Vermont.”
Howard Coffin will be the keynote speaker with his talk, “1800 and Froze to Death: The Cold Year of 1816” at 11AM and will explore what has long been known as “the year without summer.” Coffin, a renowned speaker from the Vermont Humanities Council, will include scores of anecdotes about the dark year of failed crops, scarce food, and religious revival. The horrible weather also came in the aftermath of the War of 1812, which produced shortages and an economic crisis.
East Poultney Day is the Historical Society’s only fundraising event, a time when people join or renew their memberships. These memberships are critical to the care of its 3 historic museums, its extensive collections, and educational outreach through school visits and lectures.
Society trustee Ennis Duling will speak at 1PM on Poultney’s own stories of extreme weather. He will be presenting significant and unique historical weather events from The Poultney Journal. There will also be a pop-up weather exhibit on display in the East Poultney Schoolhouse this summer.
Long-time area educators and museum programmers Dale and Joan Prouty will talk about their impressive collection of 19th Century School Slates at the Union Academy at 10 AM. The Proutys are popular and intriguing speakers who work with children’s educational programs and exhibits in Vermont and upstate New York.
The Poultney Historical Society’s three historic museums will be open all day with new exhibits and a return of the popular Poultney 1929 Main Street model train.
Throughout the day the green will be filled with song, beginning with the music of Carl Diethelm – One Note – playing from 9AM – 11AM.
Thanks to the Poultney Snowmobile Club and the East Poultney General Store, there’ll be plenty of choices for lunch.
Poultney Historical Society trustee Andrea Mott will display her “Poultney Farmscapes” exhibit, which is looking to add stories, memories, and photos of any farm that once operated in Poultney. Mott invites people to bring photographs of their family farms for scanning that will become part of the research library.
The Poultney Historical Society Annual Raffle winners will be announced at 1:30 PM. The Raffle will include a grand prize yet to be announced, as well as a $100 cash prize from the Society, plus many special donated prizes from local merchants.
Activities don’t end there, as the music continues with the local Hermit Hollow String Band playing bluegrass from 2PM-3PM.
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