Food for thought: Luncheon spurs local museum’s expansion
Published 12:05 am Tuesday, November 15, 2022
- The Carolina Antique Power Association hosted a fundraiser luncheon for the County Life Museum on Saturday at Sloane Park in Mount Ulla. Photo by Chandler Inions, Salisbury Post
Few things in the South are as sacred as food, so food is always front and center when the Carolina Antique Power Association hosts a fundraiser.
The luncheon for the Country Life Museum in Mt. Ulla’s Sloane Park on Saturday was no exception, as friends flocked to the scene for a hot plate and a good time. The fundraising efforts were intended to assist in expansion plans for the museum. The group purchased the 4,800-square-foot building with its 16-foot-high ceilings in 2016 to create the museum, and its purpose remains “to preserve, restore and demonstrate various aspects of the country life of the past.”
“They are working towards adding on the museum,” said Tom Smith, a former museum board member. “Originally, there were plans to add onto both sides and put larger equipment out there. We got to get the money first. We do a couple of fundraisers each year.”
Mocksville-based bluegrass band, Gaining Ground, provided musical entertainment for guests at the Country Life Museum on Saturday. Photo by Chandler Inions, Salisbury Post
Sloan Park is probably best known for the Kerr Mill, which is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, but Smith intends to give guests another reason to visit the park.
“I emphasize that it’s very important for young people to see some of the old ways of farming and how it has advanced to where it is now,” Smith said.
However, Smith indicated that he did not want to pigeonhole the museum as a place strictly for field trips.
“We definitely want to get school kids coming through here, but we are open to other kinds of special events,” Smith said.
Carolina Antique Power Association owns the Country Life Museum, which is on Rowan County property. Randy Elium is the president of the association. He highlighted a few of the expansion plans his organization has for the museum.
“We are wanting to put it in a blacksmith shop,” Elium said. “One of our members here, Ken Drone, makes wheelwrights for buggies. He made us one, and he wants to donate it. Others have some more blacksmith items, and I have a big collection of blacksmith stuff I want to bring down here too.”