by John Dowd, Star Editor
The Victor Heritage Museum is gearing up for its upcoming Chocolate Tasting Party and Silent Auction event. To speak about the event, board members and volunteers met with the Bitterroot Star at the Victor Heritage Museum. Board members in attendance included Brian Langton, Joann Hosko, and board President Suzanne Tout. Volunteers included Liz Ingrahan and Phyllis Riedman.
The event will take place on Monday, December 1, opening at 3 p.m. and running until 8 p.m. At 4 p.m. Out West Wagons will give carriage rides around town, and will do so until 7 p.m.
The event costs $5 for everyone five-years-old and over. The purchase gets a person a bag of candies and visitors are allowed to peruse the silent auction items.
All the candy is homemade in Victor by numerous locals. Hosko calls the makers every year and said, “so far they are still answering.” There are about 10 pieces of candy in a bag and they put together over 350 bags. According to the museum board and volunteers, that comes out to a lot of candy.
Victor Heritage Museum board president Suzanne Tout, board members Brian Langton and Joann Hosko, and volunteers Liz Lingrahan and Phyllis Riedman. Photo by John Dowd.
They will also be serving warm wassail, a non-alcoholic German-styled cider drink. High school students Ty Coffin and Galen Brush will be performing jazz music, styled from the ‘30s and ‘40s and the Victor School Band will also be playing.
The board and volunteers hope everyone makes time to come out, get chocolate, big on the auction items and enjoy the rides, music, etc. They have hundreds of auction items donated for the silent auction from businesses across the valley as well as a few individuals. The volunteers and board each call businesses in various communities in the valley. Items range from blankets to alcohol, antiques and much more. Winners are announced at the end of the day, and participants need not be present to win. In fact, “the second day is a huge day,” said Hosko, who calls a lot of the winners. Even though the event ends at 8 p.m., bidding stops at 7:30 p.m.
The board and volunteers said they usually get over 200 people and since this is their primary fundraiser, everything helps. Each year the event raises around $10,000, all of which goes into maintaining the museum. Langton said, “We definitely want to thank our generous donors, we’re really blessed.”
The event is sponsored by Farmers State Bank, which helps the event even happen. Hosko added that there are around 40 candy makers. “That’s just a huge donation right there,” she said, as the candy can be expensive.
According to Ingrahan, “everything goes into the museum,” and everything is appreciated.
Tout said, “People are excited about this event coming up, people are happy,” and that is one reason “among other reasons, why I like doing this.” Many of the current board has been involved with the museum for as long as it has been around. According to Langton, “When you get a job here, you’re here for life.”
Riedman is the only one who has only been involved for a couple years. However, most of them have been involved with Victor history for a long time. The rest of them even grew up and went to school together in Victor. The museum has been in operation for 15 years. In all that time, the museum has grown, and so has its needs. The museum was mostly Victor stuff in the beginning, but over the years has become a place featuring a lot of valley history.
They now have a shipping container which they use as extended storage, because they ran out of room where they were previously storing items. Farmers State Bank donates the space for the container on a patch of land near the museum. The board and volunteers are now looking for someone who might help donate shelves for the container because many of the items are kept on the floor.
The museum board and volunteers also wanted to announce that they have just added several display sign posts over the last summer. These feature information on the various outdoor exhibits. These were created by the Victor School FFA, with help from the Stevensville School FFA.
The Victor Heritage Museum is located at the corner of Blake and Main Streets in Victor.