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Past Events

County Museum provides special presentation for GRHS history students

Public Engagement Coordinator Aidan Brady dressed in a tweeed jacket stands at a podium in a high school classroom in front of a sea of students sitting in desks. Behind him a slideshow plays on a newline board reading 'What do you know about the Cold War?'

Photo #1 - Nearly 50 Green River High School students attended the Sweetwater County Historical Museum’s “The Cold War in Sweetwater County and Wyoming” this week. Topics covered by Public Engagement Coordinator Aidan Brady included “duck and cover” air raid drills common in schools during the era.

 (Sweetwater County, Wyo. - February 14, 2024)     Green River High School students in Ruth Foerster’s 11th grade U.S. History class received a special presentation this week from staff and volunteers of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum. 

“The Cold War in Sweetwater County and Wyoming” was presented by Public Engagement Coordinator Aidan Brady and museum volunteers Carrie Tuttle and Madeline Trujillo-Hamel.

Presentation topics included an overview of the Cold War’s direct and indirect effects on local people, including air raid drills practiced at schools, Wyoming - particularly Laramie County - as a possible target of enemy action, political cartoons and editorials during that time, and popular culture of the day.

Excellent turnout for County Museum's Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) event

Left: 7 people in traditional Mexican dress, the members of Danza, Corazón, y Cultura, stand on a bridge across the Green River. Top right: teenagers dressed in traditional Nayarit clothing dance with machetes. Bottom Right: Dancers in skeleton face masks dance amongst others in traditional dress.

Photo #1 - “Danza, Corazon, y Cultura,” from left to right in the photo at left, Jacob Diaz, Anna Martin-Hernandez, Elia Marquez, Rosaura Barrera, Miranda Salas, and Luis Diaz. Their performance on Saturday in Green River, sponsored by the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, was attended by over 200 people.

 

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - October 25, 2023)    More than two hundred people attended the Sweetwater County Historical Museum's special Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) event at the Clock Tower Park in Green River on Saturday.

As featured in the animated 2017 Walt Disney film Coco, Día de los Muertos is a holiday for honoring the dead. It originated in Mexico but is now celebrated in many Latin American countries. Celebrants create displays called ofrendas (offerings), using items such as food, flowers, photos, and sugar skulls in remembrance of family members who have passed away. Typically, Día de los Muertos begins on October 31 and lasts through November 2.

The event's highlight was a series of performance by "Danza, Corazon, y Cultura," a seven-member cultural troupe performing traditional Mexican dances in full costume, including dances from a range of Mexican states, such as Veracruz, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Jalisco.

Mexican-themed children’s craft activities were offered, including making calavera masks, coloring pages, and decorating sugar skulls. Refreshments, including pan de muerto (a special Mexican bread), champurrado (Mexican hot chocolate), and Mexican soda were served.

Executive Director Dave Mead extended the museum’s special thanks to Yolanda Covarrubias and her family for the champurrado and the pan de muerto, Victor Hiler of the Hiler Insurance Agency, who donated the Mexican soda, Bella and Cecilia Romero-Adkins, who helped museum staff create the sugar skulls, and the Romero-Adkins family and Emilio Sanchez of Green River, who generously volunteered their time to help run the event. Mead also expressed particular  appreciation and admiration for the talent and hard work of the Danza, Corazon, y Cultura performers, Joaquin and Rosaura Barrera of Rock Springs, and Elia Marquez, Jacob Diaz, Luis Diaz, Anna Martin-Hernandez, and Miranda Salas of Green River.

Check out this year's museum ofrenda - and the many other exhibits - at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and there is no charge for admission.

AK Reynolds Exhibit Opening

ak reynolds exhibit invite

Community outreach for children at the County Museum

Left: Children of varying ages try to locate landmarks on a map with their adult chaperones on a tour. Right: Students of various ages build coil and scrape pots while Public Engagement Coordinator Aidan Brady assists.

Photo No. 1 - On Tuesday, children from Kid & Company, Green River, received a special museum tour. On Wednesday, another group, instructed by museum staff, built their own clay pots, using ancient coil and scrape techniques.

 

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - July 26, 2023)      It was a busy week for community outreach at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum in Green River.

On Tuesday, students, parents, and caregivers from Kid & Company Daycare and Pre-School of Green River received a guided museum tour from Aidan Brady of the museum’s staff. Tour topics ranged from dinosaurs and pre-historic peoples in southwest Wyoming to immigrant trails and the history of mining and ranching in Sweetwater County.

On Wednesday the museum hosted a special hands-on children’s class on clay pottery making, using ageless coil and scrape techniques. Pottery is one of the oldest of human inventions and crafts, extending back in time some 30,000 years. Brady and museum Executive Director Dave Mead provided instruction and materials, and participants created their own small clay pots. (The finished products were not kiln-dried, but set aside to air dry. They were labeled, and the kids will return to the museum to pick them up once they’re dry.)

Educators, parents, and parent-teacher groups who are interested in learning more about museum programs for students Grades K - 12 are encouraged to contact Brady at (307) 872-6435 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The museum is located at 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and there is no charge for admission.