Crisp Museum celebrates Halloween early with themed activities

Crisp Museum at Southeast River Campus hosted ‘Halloween at the Museum’, an open-house crafting session on Oct. 19 and 20.

The event, which was open to the public, allowed guests to create holiday-themed crafts such as sewn rag monsters, tiki creatures and mini wooden jack-o’-lanterns.

Guests were also given the opportunity to bring their own pumpkins where they were provided patterns and tools to carve.

In addition, the museum held a scavenger hunt where guests ventured through the history gallery in search of spooky-themed items. Once finished with the checklist of items, guests turned in their forms to be entered in a grand-prize drawing for a cauldron full of candy.

Art activities were separated into stations where guests used various crafting materials to bring their creations to life.

For tiki-heads and jack-o’-lanterns, felt markers were used to draw designs onto small pre-painted pieces of wood. Supplies such as hot glue, googly eyes, paint and wooden shape cut-outs were also provided.

At the rag monster station, guests were supplied with string, buttons and assorted pieces of pre-cut recycled fabrics. These pieces were sized into arms, legs and eyes and then hand-sewn together and stuffed, creating a monster-like creature.

One attendant, Tom Neumeyer, explains these events are valuable because they provide fun for all ages and allow families to share time bonding.

“People are involved, its hands on, it’s the enjoyment of seeing kids having fun — and the adults are having fun too. I mean look around, everyone is having fun, life is too short,” Neumeyer said.

Host Jim Phillips explained that these occasions are held to make the museum a place to feel comfortable learning and interacting among the community.

“It’s nice to be familiar with the community, and there's lots of different things to do here. Not just come once, but think, ‘I can come and do all these different things and experience the museum in a variety of different ways,’” Phillips said.

Phillips said he hopes the takeaway from this event is not only the creative experience but for attendants to feel like they had a good time.

“I hope they had a fun experience, they kept some tradition, maybe they take home something they may put out in their house for years to come, and memories are built with that,” Phillips said.

Crisp Museum will be hosting weekly seasonal events throughout October and November. The next event, ‘Trick-or-Treating at The Museum,’ will be held Oct. 31 from 5 to 8 p.m.