ARLINGTON Harley Robb and Sharon Krogen were among the Stillaguamish Valley Pioneers who spent the afternoon Sept. 15 showing children how they used to do things in the valley.
These kids dont have a clue, Krogen said. They think milk comes from the store. Many of them probably havent even seen flour, let alone ground their own.
Krogen spent the afternoon helping kids walk on stilts and blowing a trumpet made of a kazoo and drainpipe, among a table full of other homemade toys.
I love these kids, Krogen said. I just wish more people would come.
One story going around at Pioneer Days was about a young man from Pioneer Elementary School, who was one of the first to arrive at Pioneer Days Saturday. His class had attended a tour of the museum last spring, when all the classes at that Arlington elementary school took turns making field trips to the museum.
He marked his calendar and was very excited to come today, Krogen said.
Activities included cow milking on an improvised cow with rubber teats that released milk upon squeezing, a butter churn and flour grinder, and a water pump.
Sharon Forsman supervised the table filled with traditional medicines, including garlic and oatmeal for cholesterol. Her grandchildren, Hannah and Daniel Ewing, tried walking on stilts made of juice cans, with help from Krogen. Daniel said it wasnt that scary walking on the stilts.
Its cool, he said.
Inside Pioneer Hall, Helen Starr was in charge of selling souvenirs and Sharon Moody demonstrated sewing on a treadle sewing machine. She said she enjoys helping the Pioneers on this event because it keeps the local history and heritage alive.
These kids are our future museum workers, she said. If we can get them excited now, theyll be back.
One regular attendee at Pioneer Days who is a descendant of a famous pioneer family, Chad Duskin is a sixth-grade teacher at Post Middle School in Arlington.
I remember making butter out of cream while I was in Ellen Simes class in school, Chad said adding that the school teachers probably have various reasons for not taking their students to the local history museum.
I guess by the time they hire bus drivers and rent school buses they figure they get bigger bang for their buck out of a trip to Everett or somewhere else, Duskin said.
His mother, Carol Duskin, assumed position at the cow milking station during the event, and his grandfather, Harry Yost was splitting shakes.
Yost pointed out, across the parking lot, the newly restored Liberty Bell, which was used by the Arlington Fire Department from 19031945.
It was restored by Cuz Concrete, Yost said. They sandblasted it and welded and patched it, so now its almost like new. The bell is located next to the old stump house on 67th Avenue, near the entrance to the museum.