It's All 'Fun And Games'

The newest exhibit at the Rogers Historical Museum will have guests reminiscing over hot summer days spent on the shore of Lake Atalanta, throwing lawn darts at their siblings instead of at the target, or about the last time they went bowling with their family.

Debuted in June, "Rogers Fun & Games" looks at outdoor and leisure activities popular in Northwest Arkansas at the start of the 20th century -- and some that are still around today.

"Rogers has a long history of providing recreational sports for locals," says Terrilyn Wendling, assistant director of the museum. "And a lot of these things you can still do. You can still go to the roller rink; you can still go bowling. So it's always interesting to see how something we do now has changed over history."

Leisure activities in Rogers were promoted in tourism during the 1920s as part of a campaign to get people to vacation in the area but also to encourage people to move to the Ozarks. The Ozarks Playground Association was the first organization in the region to capitalize on the idea of advertising recreation as a reason to travel to a destination. Other companies followed the example of the OPA, with the entire village of Bella Vista being developed around the recreational potential of Lake Bella Vista, golfing and outdoor pavilions.

"I think when people see the exhibit, they will realize the length of the history of these activities in the area -- that people have been golfing or bowling or skating here for that long, that's really fascinating," Wendling says.

The idea for the "Fun & Games" exhibit was born about a year ago when the museum received a donation of retro bowling shirts from a local man, Wendling says. With more than 40 thousand items in the museum's collection and storage, the staff tries to put artifacts together to create exhibits that can "tell a story."

Wendling says when the bowling shirts came in, they weren't strong enough to hold their own exhibit. But added to the tennis items and lawn games, which didn't have a very long story, and the history of Lake Atalanta, the exhibit could show the narrative of recreational and leisure activities that are still popular today.

Wendling says she thinks the exhibit will make people reminisce on their last bowling score, or when they golfed with their dad at the former Twin-City Country Club. There are things to learn, too, she says, even for those who have lived in Northwest Arkansas their whole life.

"The first roller skating rink in Rogers was shut down because of drinking and fights," Wendling says. "That's not something you associate with roller skating! So I think people will enjoy learning things like that about the history of their home."

The displays in the "Fun & Games" exhibit are a mix of items from the museum's storage and donations or loans from local residents. They will be on display through Jan. 10 and Wendling says even those who have visited the museum before will appreciate the items in the new temporary exhibit.

Wendling says she thinks guests will have the strongest reaction to the display on swimming, which also happens to be her favorite thing.

"I think the swimsuits are the part of the exhibit that have changed the most in recent time, so it's just fascinating to me to see what people used to have to wear in the summer heat. I think people, and especially kids, will look at the pieces and say, 'Thank God I don't have to wear a wool suit to the lake!'"