A Letter from a Teacher
When teachers bring their students on a field trip, they frequently send us back a Teacher
Survey and letters that their students write to us about their field trip experience. All of us
love reading their perceptions of the artifacts and what they learned here. I’ve reprinted a
number of the students’ letters in previous Heritage Happenings. Teachers also write us
letters, and I thought you might enjoy reading this letter from Cherie Darley, a third grade
teacher from Vista Grande Elementary School. Thank you, Mrs. Darley, for allowing us to
share your letter with our members. And I thank our wonderful docents who give so much of
their experience and knowledge to the children.
Spring 2016
Spring Garden Festival Coming April 23rd
The annual Spring Garden Festival will be held on April 23rd from 9:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. It's put on by the Museum, the Water Conservation Garden, and the
Ornamental Horticulture Department at Cuyamaca College. The Spring
Garden Festival draws over 3,000 people with fun programs, exhibitors, and demonstrations. You also
get FREE ADMISSION AND FREE PARKING.
Now we want to share with you the Museum’s current plans for the Spring Garden Festival. We’ll
again have a table on the Grand Lawn with our Spin and Win to advertise the Museum and get people
walking up to the top of the knoll to see our incredible four museums. New this year will be a great
PowerPoint presentation, “America’s Best Idea,” with Bill Evans sharing the Wonders of Our
National Park System as it celebrates its 100th anniversary. He will be speaking at 11:00 a.m. in the
Museum Conference Room. This will be great for the whole family. We’re hoping to have someone
from the San Diego Zoo here as well. The zoo is also celebrating its 100th anniversary.
At the entrance to each wing in the Museum, you view the prizes for the “Five-Choices Dream Raffle.”
Tickets for the raffle can be purchased at the Museum Store for only $1.00 or mailed to us with a check
or cash, or call us with a credit/debit card number and we’ll fill them out! Tours of the Museum are
conducted by our wonderful Museum docents, at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Diana Kam, our amazing
artist, will be here again this year showing and selling her beautiful paintings and painted gourds. We’re
also hoping Rosendo Carrillo will be here selling and demonstrating Huichol bead and yarn art.
That’s just the Museum end of it. The Water Conservation Garden will feature succulent sales,
Garden tours, and landscape design consultations. Ornamental Horticulture will be just as
spectacular. The Cuyamaca College Nursery will hold its biggest plant sale of the year, with a wide
variety of plants at great prices. If you’ve never shopped at the Nursery, you’ll be surprised at the
quality and prices all year long. And you help the college’s Ornamental Horticulture Department.
There’ll also be a big horticulture book sale. There will be lots of activities for adults and children, great
food and vendors on the Grand Lawn, many exhibitors, and experts from San Diego garden clubs.
The Spring Garden Festival is a "don't miss" event, so mark your calendars.
Director’s Report
Five-Choices Dream Drawing
If I had to choose one word to describe my job at the
Museum, I think I would have to say, “gratifying.”
As amazing as the collections are, the volunteers and
staff make life here a joy and have truly become what
we refer to as the Museum family. The friendship
and support we all give and receive is boundless. I
appreciate being a part of it so very much.
The Five-Choices Dream Drawing is always a hit.
You choose the jar for your ticket! Again, we have
prizes to represent each wing, in addition to Choice 5,
which is always the $50.00 gift card for the Museum
Store. Craig Helm, a certified authenticator and
appraiser, donated the items for Archaeology and
Anthropology. Thank you so much, Craig.
I also experience that wonderful feeling of support
from our Museum members. We all consider you
part of our extended Museum family. Over and over
you come through for the Museum. When funds get
low for the buses for field trips, we have a “Yellow
Bus Campaign.” You send in special donations, and
we don’t have to tell the teachers that we can no
longer help pay for the bus. This would truly stop the
field trips.
For the Natural History Wing, we have an
incredibly beautiful amethyst cathedral. I go to the
gem and mineral show in Quartzsite, Arizona every
year and look at hundreds and hundreds of amethyst
cathedrals. I could not take my eyes off of this one,
and simply couldn’t resist buying it for our Spring
Garden Festival drawing. I wonder how many tickets
I’ll have to buy to win it! This fabulous cathedral is
Choice One.
We had our “Let There Be Light Campaign,” and
again your generosity gave us the money we needed
to totally update the very dim neon lighting. The
difference it has made in the Museum is truly
incredible. If you haven’t been in since the new
lighting was installed, you’re in for quite a treat.
You, our members, made it all possible.
The Archaeology Wing is filled with pre-Columbian
artifacts, so we have a framed collection of 63 paleo
arrowheads about 10,000 years old. What makes
these points especially interesting is that they were all
found at the same Native American buffalo kill site
outside Boise, Idaho. This is Choice Two.
We always have our annual “Membership
Campaign” in January. Again, you came through for
us. We had many new members join us, our renewals
jumped up, and many of you renewed at a higher
level. We’re including a list of our members with
this newsletter. If your name isn’t on it and should
be, please let us know, and I do apologize.
The Anthropology Wing has artifacts from after
1492. To represent this wing, we have a Sioux dance
wand from around 1900. You have to see this to
appreciate how unique it is. At the head of the wand
is a badger skull and a buffalo horn. The shaft has
glass beads and rawhide. Horse hair streams down
from the bottom. This conversation piece is Choice
Three.
I do feel really bad that I always seem to be asking for
your support. Our financial situation is truly a result
of our very inclusive policy. Our Mission Statement
begins with the words, “To educate.” We take it
seriously. You can always come here to learn,
regardless of your income or the size of your family.
Our admission prices are lower than any other
museum we know of, and the reality is, we never turn
anyone away. Our memberships are also the lowest.
And we keep the prices in the Museum Store as low
as possible so all of the 4,000 students who come here
annually on field trips can take home treasures from
the Museum. It is our very generous and supportive
members who make this possible. I thank you all so
very much.
Kathleen Oatsvall
The Art Wing offers a great choice this year:
“Delicate Ladies of the Flowers” by Diana Kam.
Diana’s Chinese brush stroke paintings are awesome.
Diana will also be here for the Spring Garden Festival
demonstrating and selling her paintings, cards, and
gourds. Thank you, Diana, for a great Choice Four.
Choice Five is our raffle prize to please anyone - a
fifty dollar gift certificate for the Museum Store.
This would take the bite out of purchasing Mata
Ortiz pottery, lapis lazuli, or one of our other
treasures for sale. And if you forget to circle any
choice on your ticket, this gives us a place to put it!
The tickets are $1.00 each and can be purchased at
the Museum Store. Be sure to circle your choice
on the ticket so you can win the item you want!
100th Anniversary of the U.S.
National Park Service
"America's Best Idea"!
Heritage of the Americas Museum
Voted Best Museum in East County
Date: Spring Garden Festival – April 23
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Place: Museum Conference Room
Please join us for a celebration and presentation
highlighting exciting facts, historical firsts, and a few
personal experiences from the presenter, Bill Evans.
There will also be photos presented on a large screen
of favorite National Parks.
Bill Evans has been a Sierra Club National Outings
Leader for 20 years. He’s visited, led outings, and
photographed most of the Western U.S. National
Parks. He said, “My ‘love affair’ with our National
Parks began when I was a seasonal employee in
Glacier National Park, Montana.”
National Parks information, handouts and information
about specific parks will be available for those
interested. This is a great opportunity to introduce
your children and grandchildren to the beauty and
wonders of America.
Growl! Growl! Roar! Roar!
Don’t spend the night at this
Museum!!!
Have you been to the Museum since we’ve added our
great sound system? It is really cool! As you move
toward the back of the Natural History Wing, the
dinosaurs painted on the back wall begin to roar at
you. As you move into the Archaeology Wing with
the great collections from Peru, you get to listen to
lovely instrumental pan pipe and flute music. As you
approach the bears at the end of the Anthropology
Wing, they begin to roar. My favorite of all is the
Art Wing. As you look at the paintings of the
cowboys and Native Americans, you are serenaded by
the “Singing Cowboys.” Remember Gene Autry and
Roy Rogers? You even get some yodeling, and I love
it when Jimmy Dean tells me about “Big Bad John.”
The “Big Exchange” Coming in May
Be sure to keep up your membership for free
admission to other museums and attractions around
San Diego County throughout May.
I want to thank all of you for voting us the Best
Museum in East County. We are honored. And in
case you’re wondering, we decided to count the
number of museums located in East County. We
stopped when we got up to twenty. We appreciate the
support and the publicity The Californian has given
us over the years. Albert Fulcher, the editor, has
been a great fan of the Museum over the years and
we’re grateful fans of The Californian.
Happy Mother’s Day
FREE Museum admission for Moms on Saturday,
May 7th. Children 17 and under are always FREE!
This is a great time for families to visit the Museum.
And if your children or grandchildren have been here
for a field trip, be sure they lead you on a tour. That’s
always their assignment when they come in for a
docent-led tour.