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Destination: Will Rogers Memorial

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1st Bank Oklahoma and Will Rogers Memorial Museum will host “Family Night at the Museum,” one day in the weeklong “Destination Claremore April 23-May 1..” Getting ready for the Tuesday, April 27, event is Steve Gragert, Memorial executive director; Paula Roland, 1st Bank Oklahoma marketing director; Jan McIntyre, museum store; and Julie Luna, museum events coordinator and store manager.

 

Boots Lawrence
Boots Lawrence, Oologah student and his grandfather Jim Williams, Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch manager, will demonstrate and teach trick roping during “Family Night at the Museum” Tuesday, April 27, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m in the Children’s Museum.

 

 

The hilltop where Will Rogers said he would build a retirement home will be teeming with people Saturday and Sunday, April 24 and 25, and Tuesday, April 27, much like Claremore was when Will would stop by for a visit during the heyday of his performing career.

Many times the destination was Claremore where people gathered to greet their old friend and the community matriarchs served up his favorite foods.

Events for the entire family will be on tap at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum during American Cowboys Traders Days Saturday and Sunday and Tuesday’s “Family Night at the Museum,” in the opening days of “Destination Claremore.”

Cowboy and Native American memorabilia will be bought, sold and traded on the museum grounds 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Train and stagecoach rides, Mountain Man Rendezvous and tours of the Will Rogers Memorial will provide entertainment for all ages. Admission is free.

1st Bank Oklahoma and the Will Rogers Memorial will host “Family Night at the Museum” activities from 5:30-8:30 p.m. throughout the museum. Admission is one can food item per person to be given to local food banks.

Lynette Bennett, who premiered her one-woman show “Will Rogers, Spirit of America, His Wife’s Story,” on the museum’s 80th anniversary, will return for two showings — 5:30 and 6:30 in the main theatre. A mystery guest will appear for an 8 p.m. show.

Other activities include:

• In the Library — Meet Librarian Carol Low and learn about what is in the Will Rogers Collection and how it can be accessed for information and research. Find out that there are really 10,000 photos on file of Will Rogers and Oklahoma.

• In the Heritage Gallery — Meet Curator Jennifer Holt and find out how to preserve your own family photos and documents. Ask how she stores and preserved valuable artifacts.

• In the West Gallery — Be entertained by Charley Green, author-singer, who will perform a Will Rogers monologue and western music in 30-minute sets, beginning at 5:30. He will also be available to autograph any of his three books sold in the Museum store.

• In the Children’s Museum — See real cowboys perform rope tricks. Young Boots Lawrence, Oologah student, and his grandfather, Jim Williams, manager of the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch, will demonstrate rope tricks and show how to spin a rope.

• Throughout the Museum — Be entertained by Andy Hogan, Will Rogers Memorial Museum historical guide and Will Rogers interpreter, who will stroll through the museum, performing as Will as he spins his rope. Re-enactors from the frontier days will answer questions about early-day life in Oklahoma.

Refreshments will be served in the Rotunda.

 

Other activities of the weeklong Destination Claremore will be: