VILONIA — The Museum of Veterans and Military History in Vilonia is more than a place to experience the past; it’s a place to make Christmas memories.
A Christmas Bazaar is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the museum, 53 N. Mount Olive St.
Linda Hicks, museum founder and director, said it’s the third year to offer free visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus and free carriage rides, which will be available from
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Museum tours, which are always free, will be available during the entire event.
“We usually do a soup supper and auction after the Christmas parade,” she said. “This year, we decided to do something a little different. We added the bazaar.”
Baked goods and desserts “made by some of the best cooks in the area” will be for sale, as well as jewelry, in the Spirit of Christmas Barn, Hicks said.
Homemade soup, gumbo, and chicken and dumplings will be available for $5 a bowl. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be used for operations of the museum, Hicks said.
“We’re also trying to raise enough money to put a roof on the barn; we need a new roof,” she said.
The museum opened in November 2012 in a 100-year-old house on College Street, thanks to donations of uniforms, guns, letters, medals and more from veterans of various wars or their families. The house was heavily damaged by the city’s deadly April 2014 tornado and had to be razed.
Hicks and her husband, Paul, a Vietnam veteran, and volunteers worked through the night to salvage everything they could, but many letters and other items were ruined or lost.
The museum was closed for a year and reopened in 2015 in a facility built on 2 acres donated by Charles Weaver. It included an existing barn.
The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and tours are free.
Although the museum is “packed,” Hicks said, “we still want donations of things we don’t have.”
Paul Hicks said the museum is special for veterans and the public.
“What it means to the veterans is a place to store memories,” he said. “It’s something they can’t talk about just out on the street corner or in everyday conversation.”
He said veterans often feel more comfortable talking about their military experiences when they are surrounded by other veterans.
“Every story in there on an artifact will trigger about 10 [stories],” he said. “It’s a place where the public can be educated by the veterans, and the stories are there in the museum.
They can expand on that.”
Hicks said the Christmas event is one for the entire family, “a place for the kids to come see Santa Claus and have a carriage ride. That’ll trigger a memory with them later on in life.”
He said the veterans enjoy seeing the children, too.
“It’s not all about war down there, you know,” Hicks said.
For more information about the museum, visit veteransmuseumvilonia.com, and for more information about the bazaar, call Hicks at (501) 796-8181.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.