Wednesday, April 4, 2007 11:06 PM CDT
Amish Interpretive Center to mark 10th anniversary
By the JG/T-C
editorial@jg-tc.com
ARCOLA — The Illinois Amish Interpretive Center will kick off the celebration of the 10th anniversary of its opening on April 20-21.
This free event celebrates the success of the IAIC and its accomplishments over the last decade.
“A small museum that survives 10 years is quite rare,” said Amber Kauffman, director of the IAIC. “Our community should be very proud of the support they have given us in order to sustain our existence.”
The celebration will begin with an after-hours reception at the center on April 20. Local merchants, area residents and community leaders are especially encouraged to attend this open house from 5 to 8 p.m. Guided tours of the museum will be available and light refreshments will be served.
The festivities will continue Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Mark Dewalt, author of Amish education in the United States and Canada, will present a lecture on Amish education at 1 p.m. He will be available most of the day for a book signing and to take questions.
The traveling exhibit, “Mirror of the Martyrs,” will be available for viewing. The exhibit consists of life-size illustrations from and eight of the copper-plate etchings used in the publication of the 1685 edition of the book “The Martyrs Mirror.”
This book includes hundreds of stories of 16th century Anabaptist and earlier Christian martyrs. An eight-minute introductory video about the exhibit, artifacts and rare books, including the original 1660 edition of the Martyrs Mirror, complete the exhibit.
A unique fundraising event will be held via silent auction. Bids will be taken at the IAIC and online at amishcenter.cmarket.com until 5 p.m. April 21. One of the items to be raffled is a quilt made by local Amish women in the museum. The quilt is valued at more than $550.
Since 1997, the attendance at the IAIC has increased to nearly 20,000 visitors each year. The center houses 10,000 square feet of exhibit space highlighting buggies, barns, quilts, homes, technology and history relating to the Amish. They also offer an 18-minute video that gives a thorough introduction to the Amish lifestyle in central Illinois.
Amish Country Tours, a subsidiary of the IAIC offers meals in an Amish home, guided tours of the Amish countryside and Amish home, farm, woodworking tours, in addition to complete receptive and tour planning services.
The IAIC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide education about the Amish religion and way of life in Illinois through interactive experiences within the museum and on Amish homesteads as well as to preserve historically significant artifacts and present historical information to the Amish.
For more information about the celebration, contact the IAIC at (888) 45-AMISH.
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