This is the Friends of the Estes Park Museum Website,
and we welcome you!
For more information about the Museum, Museum Programs, Artifact Donations or Research Requests, visit https://estespark.colorado.gov/museum or call (970) 586-6256
ESTES PARK DUCK RACE
OPPORTUNITY TIME
The Duck Race season is now open and the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc. is paddling fast. New Board members Nina McGibney and Christy Crosser are waddling together to make this the best Duck Race fundraising event yet for the Friends & Foundation, supporting the Estes Park Museum through fundraising and advocacy.
For every $25 Duck Adopted, $22 will support the Museum. Want to purchase more than one duck and better your odds to win a prize? Adopt a Quack Pack: pay for 5 Ducks and get the 6th Duck for free!
To adopt your own duck or perhaps ducks click here
THANK YOU and GOOD LUCK!!!
CREATIVE COLORADO TABLESETTING/SCAPING EVENT
“CELEBRATIONS, THEN & NOW”
We thank our community sponsors who make this event such a big success (with $3100 raised):
Major sponsor:
SUSAN FEREDAY INSURANCE AGENCY
Generous sponsors:
THE ANTIQUARIANS
CHERYL PENNINGTON
BARBARA COLE
BOBBIE HEISTERKAMP
COLORADO HOMESTEAD
SUE DALLAM
DUNRAVEN RESTAURANT AT ESTES PARK RESORT
THE ENCHANTED FLORIST
ESTES PARK NEWS
KIND COFFEE
LONGHORN LIQUORS
MACDONALDS BOOK SHOP
PHIL MOENNING
PEAKS HALLMARK CARD SHOP
MARNA REHAGE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHOCOLATE FACTORY
SMITH SIGN STUDIO & WISHES FULFILLED
SNOWY PEAKS WINERY
NANCY THOMAS
GLADYS VAN DRIE
KARLA VAN DRIE
WYNBRIER LTD. WILDLIFE GALLERY
YMCA OF THE ROCKIES
THE ESTES PARK DUCK RACE
reaped over $2,100 to the Estes Park Museum Friends, and we thank all of the people who adopted ducks!
The Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc. is grateful to all of the generous donors who made our fundraising campaign a success raising over $2,200 for the Estes Park Museum Friends!
THANK YOU!!!
THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED REVISED EDITION OF
ESTES PARK AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, THEN & NOW
WITH TEXT BY JIM PICKERING AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIC CLINGER AND DEREK FORTINI
IS AVAILABLE IN THE MUSEUM GIFT SHOP.
The very popular first edition, of the same name, published in 2006, is sold out, so James H. Pickering and photographers Mic Clinger and Derek Fortini published a revised edition in June 2019, with an expanded number photographs – 142 pairs (Then & Now) which cover 409 pages, and they have added narrative about the significance of each location. This beautiful book was designed by Pratt Brothers Composition and will be an excellent addition to anyone’s library.
THE ESTES PARK MUSEUM FRIENDS
PIONEER AWARD
is annually given to a member of the Estes Park community who has
significantly contributed to the history of the town.
2021 PIONEER AWARD WINNER
GREG STEINER
Greg has been responsible for numerous and diverse contributions to community theater including costume & set designs for numerous plays etc. over the years.
2020 PIONEER AWARD WINNER
DR. JAMES PICKERING
Jim Pickering has written numerous books about the history of Estes Park, and he was awarded the honor of being the Historian Laureate by the Town of Estes Park since 2006. He has a prodigious knowledge of the people nd events that have shaped Estes Park and he is generous in sharing this knowledge with everyone.
2019 PIONEER AWARD WINNER
HARRIET BURGESS
Awarded posthumously. Harriet was the family bookkeeper for the Old Plantation Restaurant for 20 years. She was also an active volunteer for the MacGregor Ranch and for the Estes Park Woman’s Club. She authored the book about the women’s club titled “Then the Women Took Over”.
2018 Annual Meeting of the
Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation
A happy Pat Washburn, winner
of the 2018 Pioneer Award
Photograph by Marsha Hobert
Estes Park Museum members and friends of Pat Washburn gathered on May 10 for the Annual Meeting of the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc.
Pioneer Award Plaque with past and
present winners.
The Pioneer Award for 2018.
Pat’s celebratory cake.
Former RMNP Superintendent
Vaughn Baker reads the
official proclamation.
Pat reminisces about her
historic past.
Pat has a dialogue with her
grand father, Joe Mills,
portrayed by Kurtis Kelly.
The meeting wrapped up with a spirited silent auction of Richter pewter bears
and a Bylaws change of the name of the Foundation Committee to the
Investment Advisory Committee.
[Photograph by Jerry Strickland]
When you shop on Amazon,
you can donate a portion of your purchase price
to the Estes Park Museum Friends by clicking on this link: www.smile.amazon.com/ch/84-6053679
Your experience will be the same, and the entire Amazon collection of products will appear, only you will be helping raise money for the Estes Park Museum Friends easily!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE OCTOBER 28/29th
CREATIVE COLORADO TABLE SETTING WINNERS
Click on [Creative Colorado Table Setting] icon on the left
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE JULY 4th
COOLEST CAR SHOW WINNERS
Click on [Coolest Car Show] icon to the left
May 7th Annual Meeting Highlights
On Sunday afternoon, after a heavy rain and hail storm, members of the Estes Park Museum Friends gathered at the American Legion Hall to conduct their Annual Meeting.
President, Nancy Thomas gave a summary of the events and projects carried out in 2016-17.
A very historic presentation of “The Bachelor’s Dream”, from Eleanor Hondius’ rememberance of the Elkhorn Lodge, was performed by brave members of the Estes Park Friends Board with Kurtis Kelly as the bachelor and Madison Casey as the narrator. The bachelor falls asleep on the eve of his wedding and remembers some of the people he has dated over the years. People in the audience were entranced and amused.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of the 2017 Pioneer Award to Dorothy Scott Gibbs. The Mayor of Estes Park read a very detailed proclamation declaring Dorothy a true pioneer.
Dorthy Scott Gibbs’s speech was an historic account of how her family came to Estes Park and how they changed the town in many ways.
Dorothy celebrated her 90th Birthday on May 8th, so the Estes Park Museum Friends presented a birthday cake to her, which was deliciously shared by all of the fortunate meeting participants.
Estes Park Museum Annual Meeting in 2016:
Pioneer Award Winner Paula Steige
On May 19, 2016, the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation recognized Macdonald Bookshop owner, Paula Steige, with a very special honor: the Pioneer Award. People who have contributed to the rich history and positive legacy of the town are honored with this award each year.
In 1908 Ed and Jessica Macdonald, Paula’s grandparents, opened a hardware and general store on the same site that now contains the bookshop. “We came to Estes Park for the summer, beginning in 1945,” Paula explains, “so that my mother could help my grandfather run the bookshop. At that time, the shop was only two small rooms, and we lived in the building. I was allowed to help once I entered the seventh grade.”
Paula moved to Estes Park in 1975 with her two children, and she kept the bookshop open 361 days a year thereafter. By 1982 Paula gave up her job as an art teacher and began working full-time at Macdonald’s. Her shop is a very successful small business serving many devoted customers who purchase about 30,000 books a year.
Paula is also known for her tremendous contributions to the local community. If any group needs to sell tickets for an upcoming event, they give them to Macdonald’s. because that’s where everyone expects to buy them. She is so generous with her strong reputation, and she allows others to reap the benefits.
At the Annual Meeting of the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, a Mayoral Proclamation was read in honor of Paula and her amazing dedication to the Estes Park community. Congratulations Paula!
Photographs were taken by Jerry Strickland
Who are the Friends of the Estes Park Museum?
Who are the Friends of the Estes Park Museum? A group of preservation-minded Estes Park residents formed an organization charged to collect and display artifacts, documents, and photographs that tell the story of the Town’s past. Almost 30 years later, museum supporters ensured the Museum’s financial future by formally turning these collections over to the Town.
Today the Museum employs professional curators, and relies on support from the Friends organization. Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in October, 1991 as the Friends of the Estes Park Area Historical Museum , the name was later revised as the Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc. From these beginnings, Friends’ activities and projects are now created, designed, and guided by a volunteer Board of Directors.
Our Vision: The Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation ensures that the Estes Park Museum is the premier local history museum in Colorado
Our Mission: The Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc supports the mission of the Estes Park Museum through fundraising, publications, volunteerism, outreach and special projects and events.”
Our major current fundraising effort is the Coolest Car Show in Colorado (now its 18th year). Our publications are the responsibility of the Friends Press, which has published an impressive list of local history books, including a best selling social history cookbook: A Slice of History and a Piece of Pie and a scientific treatise on climate change: Transformation in Rocky Mountain National Park. The latest special project, slated for launch in October 2016, is “Creative Colorado Tablescapes” a table-setting competition, which will be held at the YMCA of the Rockies.