Do you remember your grandmother talking about the Daughters of the American Revolution? She had to go to her DAR meeting? Or Grampa running off to the Sons of the American Revolution meeting? If this triggers a memory, you’ll enjoy the newest event coming to Fallon, the American Roots Celebration at the Fallon Convention Center on August 6.
Brought to the community by a group of history buffs, the Celebration will feature members of several Lineage Societies; the Nevada Mayflower Society, Jamestowne Society, the Order of the Founders, and Patriots of America, or best yet the Flagon and Trencher.
Richard Webster is the local connection who is working with fellow historians Jay Dickey and David Hess to produce a day of fun and remembrance. “We want to make history fun,” said Dickey. “The torch has been passed on to us, and what do we do with that?”
Hess and Dickey discussed the premise behind the organization and the event, saying that our civil structure, our society, our government require our citizens to actively be responsible and aware as citizens. But, only 12 percent of recent graduates across the country are proficient in History. “We require an educated citizenry,” said Hess, “And that’s a concern to us.”
“We have to go out and inform our citizens,” said Dickey.
The American Roots Celebration is an effort to do that, “We want to engage the public, we do what we can,” he said. The mission of the organization is to educate and inform. “We want to make History fun.”
And to that end, they recommend a website called Historyisfun.org to get started, as well as attending this event on August 6th. Several members of the historical societies will be on hand to help with lineage and sign-ups for the organizations. There will be a Civil War reenactment, presentations by several of the local societies, and a musket demonstration, and the director of Truckee Meadows Community College Genealogy Lab will also be on hand to make a presentation. Suzanne Malek, the director will also be available after her presentation for free genealogy consulting.
The event was held for the first time, last year in Genoa and Dickey said this year is much expanded. In addition to food trucks, there will also be performances by local talent, the Lincoln Highway Band, a representative from the Mayor’s office, and Zip Upham will be making a presentation about Top Gun.
Organizers are hoping having all the societies meeting together will give the public a chance to learn more about History, but will also have a more sustainable collaboration with each other. That the members of each group will be able to engage with each other more closely. “What made history fun for me,” said Hess, “is when I discovered I had ancestors present at these events. That one of my ancestors was with Amos Kellogg and the Green Mountain Boys.”
There will be plenty of activities for the whole family with kids’ activities and displays, and the entire community is invited to come down to the event that begins at 1:00 p.m., August 6 at the Fallon Convention Center.
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