Saturday, May 23 from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Historical Museum
— from the Orcas Island Historical Society —
Be a flapper or a pirate or a dirty smuggler — but come to the Historical Society’s gala on May 23!
Calling all guys and dolls, gangsters and molls, dappers and dames!
You do not want to miss out on the Orcas Island Historical Museum’s opening season gala, celebrating our newest exhibit THE SMUGGLERS’ BLUES – The Illegal, Immoral and Illicit on the Salish Sea! Join us in our museum turned swanky speakeasy for some swell live music, dancing, and themed ritzy cocktails, beer, wine and nifty finger foods.
Spend the evening dancing and laughing with us on Saturday, May 23rd from 5 to 10 p.m. Come in costume or come as you are! Tickets for the event are $35 for an individual or $60 for a couple.
Tickets include entry, food, and one signature drink ticket. Tickets can be purchased from the museum offices at 181 North Beach Road in Eastsound. For more information about the event or to purchase tickets, call Maggie at 360-376-4849.
Trust us; you do not want to miss this event. It’s going to undoubtedly be the bee’s knees!
Ooh..this fundraiser based on the years of smuggling makes my heart ache. So many precious lives of Chinese immigrants were lost when they were thrown overboard in burlap bags by the smugglers when government customs agents were approaching.
Dead Man Bay on San Juan Island was named for the bodies that floated ashore in that location.
Please, let’s have a better reason for a “fun” event to raise money for our museum
I understand what you say, BJ…we have many similar comments about the slave days on St Croix. The fact remains, however, that in order to step into the future, it is important to know and understand the past. Ignoring it is like ignoring other tragedies in our world. In this case the Museum is reliving the history so it is not repeated and celebrating the fact those days are over while honoring the memory of those who lost their life. Many people are not familar with this history and it’s an important story to be remembered.
Thank you for your response, Nancy. But the articles in the news do not present the smuggling years with that viewpoint.
I would be supportive of an educational lecture, of course.
But this party business feels more like “Yea, we can drink and party at will in this present day”. What if someone comes to the party with a burlap bag over their shoulder?
I remember my father mentioning when I was a child that a certain member of our community on Orcas was one of those smugglers. Whenever I park next to their house in Eastsound, I am reminded of that terrible time in our history.
It is traditional for museums to open exhibits with galas. We are not celebrating human trafficking at the gala. It is one of several themes in an exhibit on the history of 150 years of smugglng in our region. Human trafficking is handled with sensitivity and tact in the exhibit. As we continue our theme in our monthly history matinees we are assembling a panel to contrasting human trafficking historically on the Salish Sea and current activities in our region. This will be a discussion with community involvement at our August or September matinee. Smuggling and human trafficking are themes throughout history and this exhibit seeks to inform and educate the visitor and in no way glorifies smuggling. The gala celebrates our season opening and theme is The Noble Experiment that was Prohibition, a democratic experiment that lasted 13 years. History is good, bad and ugly. We do not know how to better ourselves if we do not know where we come from. We appreciate opening a conversation that many may know nothing about.
Respectfully,
Clark McAbee
Director, OIHM