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Date: 7/7/2021
HAMPDEN – On May 28, the Hampden Historical Society posted on their Facebook page that due to COVID-19 restrictions they were unable to open their museum on Memorial Day this year.
President Linda Krawiec explained to Reminder Publishing, “Every Memorial Day, we have someone on the first, second and in the basement floor. We usually open at 8 o’clock, people come through and then we have our parade and ceremony. In 2019, we had over 100 people through the museum.”
She continued, “This year, the town Selectman told us we couldn’t open yet, so we were disappointed. We had a nice program planned for every month in 2020. Whether you’re a member or not, we invite everybody to come and none of that came to fruition because of the pandemic.”
The building is now open, but the Historical Society are still in the process of trying to plan more programs for the upcoming year. Located at 616 Main St., the Hampden Historical Society was established in 1965 when a group of senior citizens were looking for a facility for their historical memorabilia. They decided that the town building would be a nice location and renovated it.
The purpose of the Historical Society is to collect artifacts and maintain the town’s history. They have soldiers’ uniforms and wedding dresses along with many books, town reports and photographs of how people lived years ago. Many of the homes photographed are no longer standing in Hampden.
“People come to the museum to see things that they’ve given years ago from their families, and we try to put new things out on display each time we have an open house,” Krawiec replied.
Aside from their annual Memorial Day ceremony, the Historical Society had other events that were cancelled due to COVID-19. Usually, Krawiec said the Society would have an ice cream social in the summer for people to talk and get together. Generally, they’ll host a business meeting or a program and serve ice cream after. In the past they have also hosted a fundraiser where residents would get their antique items appraised. In the fall, they have had speakers come from different areas to discuss political aspects from the 1800s.
“We really try hard to get good programs that are interesting and sometimes we have about 50 people that attend, so that’s a good turnout,” added Krawiec.
Krawiec plans to have a few of the programs for the remainder of the summer and the fall. Hopefully, she said, they will host their annual business meeting before they have to close for the winter.
“We hope everything will be okay to have the programs and allow the public to come in and enjoy what’s there,” Krawiec concluded. “We will do a thorough cleaning before and after each program. We hope that we can get the speakers that we want and have everyone feel welcomed like they can come into the museum and be safe.”