More Memories at Explore Park

 I made a post several years ago about visiting Virginia's Explore Park on a field trip when I was 7 and heard the lady with the hat play the dulcimer. Today I'm going to talk more about these types of activities and reiterate that they need to continue in our world. 

Visiting Explore Park with my school was not the only time I went there when the park ran a living history museum. Since I grew up approximately 5 minutes from the park, my parents took me there as a little girl on their own. Explore Park still has "Artisan Saturdays" where local artists, musicians and makers come and demonstrate their arts. I don't remember if that was what my Dad took me to as a kid, but I remember it was very similar.  It seemed to be a combination of a living history show and a maker day. 

I remember, when my Dad took me, there were people dressed in costume, but there were also people wearing regular clothes with tables set up showcasing their art. My memories of the event are very vague, but it seems there were people who were showcasing their paintings, woodworking crafts, jewelry, sewing crafts, and more. There may even have been some pottery here and there. I think there was live Bluegrass music and folk instruments, although this time I don't think I saw the dulcimer lady or the man who played the fife. Many of the wood crafts looked like fun, simple toys that could have been played with in the 1800s, free of screens.

I remember a man who played the recorder on this particular day. He let children take turns with a limberjack, a wooden dancing doll with loose joints, and when you jiggle the doll, it "dances." Often the limberjack has a paddle underneath, serving as the "floor" on which the limberjack dances. This turns the doll into a rhythm instrument similar to castanets or maracas, you can keep time as the doll's dancing clacks against the paddle part. I took a turn. As the man played the recorder, I made the doll dance. It was great fun! I think storytelling may have been at that event too. 

Going to Explore Park helped me appreciate the value of the old Appalachian arts and crafts, along with storytelling and music, all made by hand. Society, please, for the good of your imagination, go home and find a good craft to work on today after work. You may not be into basket-weaving or making brooms, but go to Michael's and buy an unfinished doll, picture frame, clock, or jewelry box, and some paints. Buy beads to make jewelry, or fabric to sew with, or paper to make cards with. Buy supplies to make soap, or painting canvas. Go get a hammer, saw, nails, and plywood for your next project. Put the phone away. Buy a basket in the kitchen to mount up on the wall and create a "phone jack" and leave your phone there to charge. Change your ringtone if it is someone who actually wants to talk to you, and when you hear the generic ringtone, ignore it while you are working on your craft. Sit in the living room with your family and friends and tell them a story. Better yet, tell a story by the campfire while you leave your phone inside in the phone jack in the kitchen. Practice your clarinet, or dulcimer, or guitar, or the family piano in the living room, or singing, or whatever your instrument of choice. Use technology to record yourself and your craft, not scroll on social media and do nothing. Our society has become more dull because many people would rather be on their phones than take up a fun, unusual, interesting pastime that requires skill.