About 80 people enjoyed a wine reception at the Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum late Sunday afternoon (Oct. 10).
There was a fine exhibit of the best of previous displays being showcased this month in celebration of the 10th anniversary of this building owned and managed by the City of Arcadia and a volunteer City-run Museum Commission that succeeded the museums of the Arcadia Historical Society in place for decades before.
The reception was a precursor to a $100 per-plate dinner at the adjacent Community Center created by the new non-profit Arcadia Historical Museum Foundation, led by former Arcadia Mayor Floretta Lauber, to raise a half-million dollars to build an Education Center extension to the Museum.
Proponents look forward to using the center for classrooms and to provide big enough space to attract guest speakers. The 2,600 square-foot building would be situated between the Museum and the Community Center, forming an “L” with the Museum and positioned approximately where the current shuffleboard court sits on the lawn at present.
Lauber told the gathering, which included City Councilmen Mickey Segal and Peter Amundson, each of whom offered brief comments; one member of the Museum Commission; two members of the Arcadia Historical Society; the head of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce; and most of the nine officers and directors of the Foundation, that with about $160,000 already committed to the Education Center, at least $300,000 more is needed.
She offered naming rights to the Center for $250,000, and/or naming rights to a planned Lecture Hall, which could be divided into three separate classrooms, and a Gallery running the length of the building, for $100,000 and $50,000.
She said an overhang design would form a “terrace affect” that would be ideal for fund-raising purposes.
At the dinner, Museum curator Dana Dunn described the meaning of the word museum — sacred building of the muses devoted to learning or the arts — and noted how the Museum has grown to provide education and culture to the community. She showed a PowerPoint of photos of various events held at the Museum over the years.
— By Scott Hettrick