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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7.1 Heritage Park & Museum Annual Report Oct. 2016 - Sept. 2017 Page 1 of 6 STAFF REPORT HERITAGE & CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION DATE: October 12, 2017 TO: Honorable Chair and Commissioners FROM: Tegan McLane, Heritage & Cultural Arts Manager SUBJECT: Heritage Park & Museums Annual Report, October 2016-September 2017 Prepared by: Laura Johnston, Heritage & Cultural Arts Supervisor EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Commission will receive a report on Heritage Park and Museums attendance, activities and events conducted October 2016 through September 2017. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Receive the report. FINANCIAL IMPACT: None. DESCRIPTION: The City of Dublin’s adopted Vision Statement notes its commitment to cultural heritage and balancing history with progress, and its adopted Values in Building Community through “locations and events that bring people of all ages together,” “venues for family - based activities,” and “foster(ing) heritage and cultural development." Dublin’s 10-acre Heritage Park and Museums, which is home to the Murray Schoolhouse Museum, Kolb House histo ric home, and other historic properties including St. Raymond Church, the Sunday School Barn and the Dublin Pioneer Cemetery, plays a key role in accomplishing these goals for community building. Heritage Park has particular appeal to the oldest and younge st segments of the community. It is an ideal venue for family events and fostering interest in and understanding of the community’s history and the people of many cultures who have settled here. This report includes information and statistics on this year ’s exhibits, special events, park visitors, formal tours, volunteer efforts and facility rentals at Heritage Park and Museums. 7.1 Packet Pg. 16 Page 2 of 6 TEMPORARY EXHIBITS In addition to the permanent exhibit at the Murray Schoolhouse, which depicts the journey Dublin’s founders made from Ireland to New York and across the United States to settle here, the Museum presents two smaller temporary exhibits each year, which are researched, built and installed by Staff and volunteers. From October 15, 2016 to January 29, 2017, the Murr ay Schoolhouse Museum’s Little Classroom featured Highway 21: Connecting Dublin’s Farms to the World. The centerpiece of this exhibit was a 20’x10’ mural created by local artists depicting Dublin’s crossroads and the various farms along Highway 21, past orchards, farms houses and farm stands, now San Ramon valley Boulevard. The gallery was decorated as a typical roadside diner along Highway 21. Museumgoers read “menus” containing information on how the local agricultural industry trucked its produce to mar ket. The exhibit coincided with the California Historical Societies Conference’s Fall Symposium, which also had a Highway 21 theme and was hosted this year by the historical societies in Dublin, Pleasanton and San Ramon. The Little Classroom’s spring exhibit, History Detectives: A Noir Investigation into Dublin's Past opened on April 12 and ran April 12-July 30, 2017. The gallery was decorated as a 1930s detective’s office, where visitors could solve “true mysteries” by perusing through vintage facsimile documents, newspaper clippings and photographs and to gather historical clues about some of Dublin’s colorful characters like the visionary Lois Jordon (aka the White Angel), who ran a soup kitchen in San Francisco. During the summer, participants in Camp Dublin visited the exhibit and participated in the sleuthing activities. SPECIAL EVENTS Harvest Fair More than 550 visitors attended the 2016 Harvest Fair at the Dublin Heritage Park and Museums on Saturday, October 15, before rain set in late in the afte rnoon. Highlights included Hands-on History activities, such as tractor-drawn wagon rides, gold panning, and apple peeling; bluegrass music by The Dim Lights; and a display of handmade quilts in the Sunday School Barn, courtesy of the Amador Valley Quilter s. Ghosts of Dublin Dublin Heritage Park and Museums’ second annual Ghosts of Dublin event was a sell - out, with 140 participants taking the pre -Halloween flashlight cemetery tour to learn more about Dublin’s pioneers. Would-be ghost hunters assembled in the dark, Old St. Raymond Church with its haunting background music and decorations, before proceeding into the dark cemetery with their flashlights while the school bell rang in the distance. Representatives from Bay Area Ghost Hunters shared information on ghost hunting equipment, techniques and findings, and staff shared Dublin -related ghost stories contributed by community members. Due to the high demand and positive feedback from attendees, a second day has been added this year. Holiday Teas Heritage Park and Museums kicked off its holiday season with the annual Holiday Teas December 3 and 4. The Children’s Holiday Tea hosted 24 children and family members. The event included holiday music and a visit from Saint Nick. The Country Holiday Teas hosted 88 attendees, including a large group from the Dublin Women’s Club. Teen 7.1 Packet Pg. 17 Page 3 of 6 volunteers from Dublin High School’s AVID club assisted staff with set -up and clean up, and helped served tea. Heritage Park volunteers sold several holiday gift items created by our craft committee. The Dublin High School Culinary Academy prepared the food, including chocolate-dipped strawberries, tea sandwiches and scones. Spring Fair & Farm Tea More than 500 visitors attended the Spring Fair at the Dublin Heritage Park & Museums on Saturday, May 6. Children planted vegetables in a Farm Yard garden, led by volunteer Master Gardeners Jim and Sue Farr. Challenge Dairy sponsored the dairy pen, where visitors could milk Heritage Park’s model cow, Elsie, and try making butter, whipped cream and ice cream by hand. The event also included tractor-drawn wagon rides and live music by the Dim Lights on the main stage, Bluegrass Jam Band in the Sunday School Barn, and Old Tyme Irish Jam Band on the Kolb front porch. Fifteen arts and craft, food, nonprofit and local business vendor booth sold items or provided information on their services. Concurrent with the Spring Fair, Heritage Center volunteers hosted Tea in the Sunday School Barn, serving tea and cookies to approximately 50 guests. Attendance for this year’s Spring Fair was slightly higher than last year, thanks to the better weather. Spring Fair competes with many Bay Area events also held the first weekend in May, including Mother’s Day activities, Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo festivities. Music Jams Bluegrass and Irish/Old Tyme Music Jams are hosted at Heritage Park on alternating Tuesdays. On average, the Bluegrass Jam attracts 12 -20 musicians and attendees per week and the Irish/Old Tyme bands host on average 10 -18 musicians and attendees per week. VISITORS A comparison of visitors shows the number of people who visited Heritage Park and Museums as part of a formal tour, as walk-in guests during public exhibit hours, or attended a special event at the Heritage Park. Tour guests we re counted and recorded by the tour guide. Volunteers at the Visitor Center in the Murray Schoolhouse recorded the walk-in guests. For ticketed special events, such as Teas, guest attendance was drawn from ticket sales data. For non-ticketed events, such as the Spring Fair, Staff working the event estimated attendance. Visitor attendance has remained steady compared to 2015/2016. The decline in walk -in visitors may be due to the extreme rain in early spring, but pleasant weather during the Spring Fair in May helped make up overall attendance. Visitor Comparison numbers do not include people visiting Heritage Park for City -run classes (counted in class attendance numbers), private rental functions, or simply walking through the park without visiting the museum. VISITORS COMPARISON 2016/2017 2015/2016 Attendance Type Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL 7.1 Packet Pg. 18 Page 4 of 6 Adult - Tour 50 0 0 58 108 75 55 15 0 145 Child - Tour 0 137 656 31 824 0 188 642 0 830 Walk-In 286 227 297 380 1,190 271 234 335 461 1,301 Special Events 802 0 635 0 1,437 929 0 386 0 1,214 Total Visitors 1,138 364 1,588 419 3,559 1,275 477 1,378 461 3,591 TOURS The City also tracks the number and type of tours. Tours are especially popular with elementary schools, as third graders study local history. Third graders from Amador, Dougherty, Dublin, Frederiksen, Green, and Murray elementary schools, two classes from Valley Christian School, a class from Academic Plus, and a summer camp of 30 preschoolers from the City of Pleasanton, also visited the Heritage Park this spring and summer. Several groups that regularly take tours each year (a class from St. Raymond’s School and 4 classes from Kolb Elementary School) did not participate this year. However, a new group from Frederiksen Elementary toured and Green Elementary sent three additional classes. Our community group tours declined slightly, with three fewer scouting groups compared to 2015/2016. About half of the classrooms touring also participated in add-on activities, such as tractor wagon rides, old-fashioned laundry and gold panning. A group of 40 educators enrolled in an educational program through the University of Pacific took a tour of the park in June to learn about the various activities available for teachers and students in the area. All of the teachers were given a tour and an explanation of the hands-on activities and field trip pricing information. TOURS COMPARISON 2016/2017 2015/2016 Tour Type Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL School Tour 0 3 18 1 22 1 5 17 0 23 Community Tour 1 0 0 2 3 4 1 1 0 6 Total Tours 1 3 18 2 25 5 6 18 0 29 VOLUNTEERS There are 27 registered volunteers at the Heritage Park and Museums. Volunteers are grouped by interest and may choose to participate in a variety of specialized work groups including: Docents/Greeters, Collections and Archives, Gardeners, Photography, Walking-Tours and Tractor and Kolb Truck Volunteers. Staff is actively recruiting volunteers to fill the need for school tours, weekend docent hours, special events and historic vehicle driving. 7.1 Packet Pg. 19 Page 5 of 6 Volunteer hours have seen a steady decline in recent years from 3,158 hours in 2014/2015, to 2,710 in 2015/2016, and now 2,026 in 2016/2017 due to our decline in registered, active volunteers. Many have aged out of the program, moved out of the area or find themselves with other obligations. The largest decline has been in the Museum Docent volunteers. Staff have recently re-evaluated the volunteer program and are working to address this issue. Staff is implementing new recruitment techniques and better tracking methods, and has refreshed the volunteer opportunities, including some new opportunities that may have more appeal. Staff is also working to grow the partnership with local schools and include more opportunities for teen volunteers. Three docent volunteers led school tours and hands-on heritage activities for 22 Dublin classrooms. Seventy-five volunteers from Hands-on Bay Area completed general park maintenance projects throughout the park including raking leaves, collecting garbage, and sweeping porches and cobwebs, and they also put up fall decorations at a one-day visit in October. Twenty-two volunteers staffed the Tea Room and Hands-on Heritage activities during the Harvest Fair, Spring Fair and Farm Teas. In addition, more than 50 high school students volunteered over 550 hours of service at various special events. Nine greeters staffed the museum desk and led public tours during op en hours. Four garden committee members, led by Jim and Sue Farr, cared for gardens throughout the park, weeding, raking and pruning. They now also care for the new Farm Yard, a vintage style vegetable garden planted during the Spring Fair. The garden committee tends the grounds once a week, weather and schedules permitting. Approximately 50 volunteers participated in projects at Heritage Park during the annual Dublin Pride community volunteer event. Volunteers assisted staff and volunteer farm yard project coordinators Jim and Sue Farr with raking, loading soil, wood chips and waddles around the garden area. Volunteers also helped maintain the cemetery by raking weeds and leaves off unmaintained graves and installing wood chips along walkways. VOLUNTEER HOURS COMPARISON 2016/2017 2015/2016 Volunteer Type Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL Adults Volunteers 518 241 489 182 1,430 503 598 682 354 2,137 Student Volunteers 303 85 190 18 596 261 160 150 2 573 Total Hours 821 326 679 200 2,026 764 758 832 356 2,710 FACILITY RENTALS St. Raymond Church has been available to the public for private rental since prior to the expansion of the Heritage Park and Museums. The Sunday School Barn became available for private rentals in 2012. 7.1 Packet Pg. 20 Page 6 of 6 This year saw a sharp temporary increase (up 74%) in facility rentals at Heritage Park, due to the additional rental of Old St. Raymond Church and Sunday School Barn by the Hosanna Community Church every Sunday, February th rough August, though they have since relocated their services to a larger venue for the remainder of the year. The Heritage Park Homeowners Association is renting the Sunday School Barn for its general meeting once a month. Regular renters such as these pr ovide a steady source of revenue and generally require less set up. Rentals surveys are sent to renters within the first week of their rental. Although the number of surveys received was small, feedback was very positive. One hundred percent of those responding gave a rating of “very satisfied” for facility attendant staff, set-up and cleanliness of the buildings, and stated they would rent the facility again in the future. FACILITY RENTALS COMPARISON 2016/2017 2015/2016 Rental Type Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL Oct- Dec Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep YTD TOTAL St Raymond Church 4 4 2 2 12 4 5 3 0 12 Sunday School Barn Both 2/2 1/10 1/13 3/10 7/35 9/1 2/0 4/1 2/0 17/2 Total Rentals 8 15 16 15 54 14 7 8 2 31 NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: None. ATTACHMENTS: None. 7.1 Packet Pg. 21