Historical Association of Lewiston nixes Tour of Homes, but adds fundraising opportunities

By the Historical Association of Lewiston

Over the last 15 years, the major fundraiser for the Historical Association of Lewiston has been the annual Tour of Homes run concurrently with the Lewiston Christmas Walk in December. This year, that tradition regrettably is suspended.

We love the fact that many tour visitors came from near and far to faithfully visit and enjoy the decorations and place settings and to see some of the area’s finest homes in all their Christmas glory. This tour requires many person-hours of volunteer effort and substantial planning and implementation, but was always our stalwart fundraiser. Now, due to planning considerations of COVID-19 requirements, we cannot risk all that preparation and expense with such a distinct prospect of last-minute cancellation. We are sorry to disappoint you all.

On top of that, our spring fundraisers, the murder mystery dinner and “Historical Jeopardy,” have also been postponed and as yet we cannot confidently reschedule them.

The expenses of the Historical Association go on, however, so we are implementing several new ideas that we can accomplish.

Our president, Ken Slaugenhoupt, is hosting history hikes telling the story of the original lower landing within Artpark. These began last year and continue now with two successful ventures completed this season – and more to follow through the fall. The next date is Aug. 15. The tour is two to three hours in length with some moderate hiking so bring water, sunscreen and bug spray.

Donations to the Lewiston Museum are gratefully received, but if that is not possible, please join us anyway and learn about 12,000 years of history in a very compact space. Contact Ken directly at [email protected] to save a place. Tours are limited to 15 at a time, and we practice social distancing.

The museum will participate in the 10 Mile Garage & Sidewalk Sale on the weekend of Aug. 21-22 with assorted goodies available at 469 Plain St.

Further, we are selling raffle tickets for cash prizes to be drawn weekly over 11 weeks. They will be available from any HAL board member and will be on sale at the garage sale weekend and through Patti Mahony at the museum.

We are also working on new ideas for fun and education. Keep in touch through our website at www.historiclewiston.org.

We are striving to meet these various challenges presented by the pandemic issues. We always need volunteers to help at the museum, sit on our board of directors and help in any way possible. For opportunities, contact Patti at 716-754-4214.