Shew it's over AND it was a huge success. A few months ago the Landmarks board had a meeting and invited some of Dr. Rutherfords descendants to attend. Elisha Farmer and Andy Houk are great great great grandchildren of Dr. Hiram Rutherford. We were very short on funds to keep the museum open. It was decided that since there was only enough money to keep the lights on until the end of December that we would need to have a very large fundraiser. Elisha and her husband Brad organized, planned and put into action this "Old Fashioned Christmas" event. Through this event we estimate over $8000 was raised. We also have received some generous donations from our regular supporters. All in all this event plus the generous donations has put us back on firm ground.
Thank you seems so inadequate but I'll say it anyway. THANK YOU to each and every one who helped plan, set up, tear down, attend/participate, donate, advertise or anything else I can't think of right now. Thank you.
Below are some pictures I took the day of the event. Enjoy.
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| The Dr Hiram Rutherford Home |
The Columbian building is owned by the City of Oakland and used as a community center. It is adjacent to the historical complex so it is the perfect place to house the vendors and BINGA event.
Pictures from the set up in the Columbian Building.
Inside the Rutherford Home. Decorations were in place to make a Victorian era Christmas feel inside the home.
The old Penn Central Depot was also open for guests. We actually had a former rail road conductor in there just talking about the rail road. I heard he had lots of stories and that they were very interesting.
And then the guest started arriving. Shopping, playing Binga, eating lunch or just plain visiting with friends and enjoying the atmosphere.
See you next year.
