Join the Washington County Museum for Teddy Roosevelt’s Oregon Roadshow on Friday, May 11 at 7:00 p.m., for a unique presentation of the life and personality of the 26th president of the United States. The show is sponsored by the Oregon Historical Society and Wells Fargo Bank.

Presented at HART Theatre in downtown Hillsboro. Tickets $20 person, $15 WCM Members – Available by calling 503.645.5353 x110.
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The Comic Book Art of Aaron Lopresti will take you on a stroll down Memory Lane.

The exhibit features the work of Oregon native Aaron Lopresti. It unveils selections of his work through the years for comic titans Marvel and DC Comics. Sketches include Wonder Woman, The Hulk, Spider-Man, Batman and X-Men. Also included are some of Lopresti’s original comic creations.

See highlights of Lopresti’s illustrations in various stages of development. Lopresti has worked with Marvel and DC Comics since 1989. He is a regular featured guest at comic conventions and is a former Pacific NW College of Art instructor.

In addition, the exhibit will include a local collection of Big Little Books dating from the 1940s and ‘50s. Big Little Books delighted children with colorful illustrations and action-packed stories of iconic legends such as super detective Dick Tracy.

Look for a number of special programs, activities and learning opportunities geared toward children and families this summer through the Museum’s education and folklife department.

A special preview reception is Friday, May 4, 6 to 9 p.m., exclusively for Washington County Museum members.

Music was a main component of the campaigns for Presidential candidates in the 1860s.  On May 16, at 2pm “Illinois” Doug Tracy will guide us through a musical tour of these songs and campaigns.  Looking back at these songs gives us an insight to the candidates’ positions and how divided Americans were at the time of the Civil War and the election of Abraham Lincoln.  Discover how music helped to shape what were, probably, the most crucial Presidential elections our nation has ever held.

Admission: $3; members free
When: Wednesday, May 16
Time: 2 to 3 p.m.
Location: Washington County Museum

A celebration of Washington County’s best wine, beer and foods. Enjoy beverage tastings, hors d’oeuvres, small plate entrees and desserts from some of the county’s finest wineries, restaurants and caterers.

We will also honor Tom Brian with the Heart of Washington County Award for his more than 30 years of public service and dedicated community support.

Friday, June 22, 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Museum
Tickets are $65 per person.

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Music performances are at 11 a.m. and at 1 p.m., with craft activities in between. Meyers plays pioneer music on the banjo, guitar, autoharp, spoons, musical saw and more in this entertaining and audience engaging show.

Family Day is at the Museum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Museum is located on the PCC-Rock Creek Campus, 17677 NW Springville Road. Open to the public. Free.

Sponsored by PGE Foundation, The William G. Gilmore Foundation, Beaverton Bakery,
Robert D. and Marcia H. Randall Charitable Trust, the Oregon Community Foundation and Print Arts Northwest.

His sculptures and jewelry are a mixed media process of mammoth and elephant ivory, amber, jasper, turquoise, obsidian, jade, serpentine, alabaster and variety of woods. Each piece is a unique form of art that frees the imagination to explore the history of the Aztec and Mayan times.

Meet him at the Crossroads, see some of his incredible work and learn about the mosaic creation and restoration processes. He cuts each piece of stone individually and makes his own adhesives with techniques perfected by pre-Columbian artists.

Parra grew up in Puebla, Mexico, where his father, an archaeologist, began teaching him at age 11 the rare, painstaking technique of restoring artifacts from the Aztec culture. Those insightful hours with his father sparked his interest in preservation and inspired him to become an artist.

Parra first displayed his work publicly in 2007 at One World Merchants in Vancouver, Wash. His work also has been shown at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts and, most recently, at the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Center in Hillsboro.

Admission: $3; members free
When: Wednesday, Nov. 16
Time: 7 to 8 p.m.
Location: Washington County Museum

Peculiar topics are often embodied in the study of history — folk tales and songs, obituaries, archeology and superstitions. But one topic that serious historians can never get away from is the subject of ghosts.

Just this summer, the Sherwood Historical Society was involved in two formal ghost surveys by some very serious ghost hunters.

Believe what you will of this highly controversial topic, but there is no getting around the subject of ghosts in a historical building and museum such as the Morback House. Especially in October. History and ghosts offer many unexplained mysteries to be solved.

The Washington County Museum and the Sherwood Historical Society join forces in October to tackle a few of county’s local hauntings. June Reynolds of the Sherwood society presents stories about the strange sights and sounds people have reported at this allegedly haunted historical site.

Patrons should note the time change, 7 to 8 p.m., and the location change to the Sherwood Heritage Center, for this special Crossroads event.

The evening begins with a brief tour of the Morback House and a tour of another “haunted” site a few blocks away. Learn who lived — and perhaps died — decades ago in these local places people say are now laced with supernatural overtones.

So bring your questions, your own ghost stories and join us as we explore the unexplained. Come see for yourself – if you dare.

Admission: $3; free for Washington County Museum and Sherwood Historical Society members
When: Wednesday, Oct. 19
Time: 7 to 8 p.m.
Location: Sherwood Heritage Center
22552 SW Park St. (First and Main) Sherwood, Ore.
Directions: Head south on Pacific Highway (99W) to Sherwood.
Turn left onto SW Sherwood Blvd. (just past SW Roy Rogers Road)
SW Sherwood Blvd. becomes SW Pine St.
Turn right onto SW 2nd St.
Turn left onto SW Park St.

The Minidoka Swing Band performs Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Washington County Museum in celebration of National Museum Day, organized by Smithsonian magazine.

The Museum is a participating organization with free admission from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bring the family, lawn chairs and a sack or picnic lunch to the Museum and take in the toe-tapping music of the Minidoka Swing Band, view current exhibits, see a Japanese woodblock printing demonstration by Print Arts Northwest artist Barbara Mason, and enjoy the grounds — all for free. Beverages will be available for purchase.

The Museum is located on the PCC-Rock Creek Campus, 17677 NW Springville Road.

The locally-based swing band, established in September 2007, plays from noon to 2:30 p.m. The band’s Swing tunes serve as a tribute to Japanese Americans interned during World War II and highlights the music that was popular in 1940s America — and in the internment camps.

Led by Music Director and Conductor Larry Nobori, the band’s members range in age from 13 to 84 years old. Nobori also plays lead alto sax and clarinet. The Minidoka Swing Band, named after the Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho, has been featured in a variety of media, including the Wall Street Journal and in an Emmy-nominated story produced by KING TV-Channel 5 in Seattle.

Two exhibits are on display in the Museum gallery.

The traveling version of Taken: FBI is organized by the Oregon Nikkei Endowment in Portland. It shares stories, artifacts, diaries and experiences of some of the Portland-area Japanese Americans who were interned during the War.

The Day We Left is a complementary exhibit of large-scale paintings by Cedar Mill artist Sharon Inahara, using words as art, to depict the emotions of WWII and the internment experience of Japanese Americans.

A third exhibit at the Museum is in the Print Arts Northwest gallery and features Little Things Add Up — selected prints by artist Gordon Sherman.