President’s Message:Ed Stephenson, January 2016

The year is 2016. Although some things stay the same, there are many changes taking place. The current soggy weather is only a reminder that better times are ahead as we look forward to planning for our traditional events. The cold weather has challenged our volunteers in both maintaining and improving the current facilities and also those hardy souls putting a roof on our new archival storage building.

The anticipated completion of the new building will bring new opportunities for the Society to expand its contribution to the island community. Weather permitting, under John Larsen’s supervision, the roof will be finished by the end of January so that construction of the interior can begin. Wood for the interior walls has been delivered. Windows and exterior doors are on order as is much of the mechanical equipment for the building. Members of the steering committee are busy selecting colors, fixtures and materials. The Display committee will soon present their plan for rotating displays in the new building. With a little bit of luck, a lot of hard work and a continuing supply of hearty soup for lunch by our “super soupers” organized by Lucy Stephenson, we hope to be open for business by the Salmon Bake in July.

Our AIHS Board and members can be proud of our accomplishments in 2015. Besides the traditional events which went off without a hitch thanks to our excellent organizers for Farm Day, Garden Market, Salmon Bake, multiple Apple Squeezes, Potluck programs and the December Holiday open house, demolition work for the upgrade to the Lois Scholl room kitchen was started with a bang (no pun intended). The upgrade will allow our folks to prepare food for our events in our own kitchen instead of having to rely on commercially prepared food. Our volunteers continue to maintain the farm buildings and grounds to make the Johnson Farm the showcase of the island. And for their efforts, the volunteers get fed well on the second and forth Wednesdays of each month with lunches organized by Marsha Howells.

To prevent further damage to the septic system, volunteers installed a new fence to prevent traffic driving over the drain-field. AIHS participated in the “Festival of Trees” at Christmastime where we showcased our historical people and mission statements. We also hosted the British Invasion band concert, the continuing art classes by Lynne Jacobson and the annual Easter Egg Hunt and Halloween Trunk or Treat.

The Museum Store, managed by Kathy Bailey, continues to provide unique merchandise for visitors and helps provide the income needed to maintain the farm museum & buildings. Our thanks go to Kathy who has managed the store for the past 10 years. A new book of Anderson Island people and stories published by local authors has been a good seller at the museum store as has the island telephone book, written and published by our own AIHS volunteers.

We received the donation of a golf cart which the maintenance group is making ready as an aid to people who have mobility challenges but want to see the farm buildings up close. Since we will be losing some of the parking spaces taken up by the new building, a new parking area is being built below the barn which will be accessed via a new roadway. This new road will allow the golf cart to transport folks up close to our historic barn. They can also see, up close, the renovated generator shed.

Along the way, we have had to deal with many challenges. An eager “Beaver” insists on damming up our pond to the overflow point requiring almost daily demolition of his damworks. The County closed down all of our farm buildings for a few days while we made them compliant with current fire codes. The barn is still off-limits until it can be strengthened against wind and snow loads. Our resident structural engineer (Sutton Stephens) is preparing a “fix” which we hope to implement soon so we can again have barn tours.

My thanks to all who have contributed to these many activities. Your volunteer efforts continue to make the Historical Society and the Johnson Farm of Anderson Island a very unique adventure for residents and visitors.