MAMRH - Mount Airy Museum of Regional History

Mount Airy News

Dipping It Old School

With spring in the air, Easter can be just around the corner, and the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History is once again planning to offer a favorite of the season — the Batik Easter Egg decorating workshop.

This year, the workshop will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on the second-floor classroom at the museum. Two workshops are being offered this year, on March 2 and March 23.

The classes will be led by Ukraine native and museum volunteer Maria Skaskiw, who is returning for another year after teaching the class last year.

Participants will learn the ancient Ukrainian method of decorating Easter eggs using simple, primitive tools to “write” intricate designs in beeswax. This method is traditionally used to make the much-admired European-style Easter eggs.

The process involves using beeswax to cover the egg before carving designs in the wax and dying it different colors.

It is a technique that has been used for centuries.

African-American Read-In planned at museum

A rare chance to read aloud, and be read to, will be offered next Wednesday during the third annual African-American Read-In at Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.

The read-in — scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. in the museum’s second-floor conference room — will celebrate authors representing that group and their work, in conjunction with Black History Month.

“I think the event is important because it helps to make the celebration of African-American literacy a traditional part of the Black History Month activities,” said Emma Jean Tucker of The Plaid Cloth Literary Society, which hosts the annual read-ins. Tucker describes it as “a diverse group of ladies.”

To participate, one needs only to select works written by an African-American and be prepared to read a poem or an excerpt from a book or play, according to museum Executive Director Matt Edwards.

Mike Wiley in Brown v Board of Education

A simple black tapestry draped over a folding chair provided powerful backdrops for a humorous-yet-haunting exploration of the practice of segregation Tuesday night during a Black History Month event at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.

With a crowd of more than 100 that included both the young and old, actor and playwright Mike Wiley changed accents and personalities dozens of times, portraying in one moment a segregationist and a Topeka, Kan., resident who wants to send his little girl to an all-white school the next.

Wiley’s performance was centered around the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case in 1954, in which the court struck down the practice of segregation.

“He makes history come alive,” said county resident Alice Brim. “He’s entertaining and informative at the same time.”

Program to explore Brown v Board of Education

A groundbreaking court decision that overturned the practice of segregation will be explored Tuesday night at Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.

Actor and playwright Mike Wiley, who heads a production company in Durham, will present the program “Brown v. Board of Education — Over Fifty Years Later.” The event that is free and open to the public is scheduled from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on the museum’s third floor.

Wiley’s performance in Mount Airy Tuesday, as part of local Black History Month observances, marks the third-straight year he has explored subjects here which defined the civil-rights struggle in America. Last year, Wiley focused on Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League baseball, and in 2011 his program was dedicated to Rosa Parks and the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott.

Hundreds Turn Out for Holiday Favorite

Organizers say this year’s annual Mount Airy Museum of Regional History Holiday Open House was one for the record books.

The museum hosted the 15th annual Holiday Open House Saturday, and organizer Matt Edwards said a bumper crowd turned out for the event.

“I was tremendously pleased with the turnout this year,” he said. “As with any event that is open to the public, you never know what you’re going to get, but we had a great turnout.”

Edwards said more than 350 people came out to munch on holiday favorites, listen to a wide variety of music and get their photo made with Saint Nick.

“We had several musical performances throughout the day, including an impromptu jam session with local musicians in the morning,” he said.