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WEIRTON -- The Smithsonian traveling exhibition "Crossroads: Change in Rural America," made possible by the West Virginia Humanities Council, opens at the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center with a reception and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 31, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Featured reception speakers include Paul Zuros, executive director of Historic Fort Steuben in Steubenville and "History in the Hills" columnist for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times, and Mike Swartzmiller, artist and Top of WV Arts Council member.
Refreshments will be served. The event will be free and open to the public, and all CDC guidelines will be observed.
"We are honored to have been selected by the West Virginia Humanities Council to be one of just seven sites within the state to host this Smithsonian Museum on Main Street exhibition," commented Savannah Schroll Guz, WAMCC president and executive director.
"And we couldn't be more excited for this opportunity because the exhibition's major themes -- 'Land, Persistence, Managing Change and Identity' -- are all relevant to our city and the two counties it straddles," Guz said. "The exhibition gives us an opportunity to consider how we are managing change, repurposing land and forging a new post-industrial identity."
The opening reception on Jan. 31 kicks off five weeks of programming, including an Agrotourism panel featuring Family Roots Farm and the Blended Homestead at 11 a.m. on Feb. 5; an RSVP event titled "Tea with Mary: A Tribute to Mary Shakley Ferguson," featuring historical re-enactor Molly Mossor as Mary, at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 12; "Music at the Museum with R.J. Gaudio Troubadour" from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 16; and a lecture on pre- and post-industrial Hancock County by Chatham University professor and "Smokestacks in the Hills" author Lou Martin at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 19.
On Feb. 26, there will be two featured events. At 11 a.m., Heinz History Center scholar and curator Samuel W. Black will speak on Charles Town-born physician and Black Nationalist Martin R. Delany, and at 7 p.m., Ohio Valley Cloak & Dagger will perform on the WAMCC stage.
Featured on March 5, the show's final weekend, will be a kid-friendly museum scavenger hunt and a celebration of Weirton's 75th anniversary as an incorporated city.
"Crossroads: Change in Rural America" closes at the center on March 7.
An all-volunteer organization, the WAMCC is dedicated to preserving Weirton's history and culture for future generations. The two-floor museum is located at 3149 Main St., Weirton, and during Crossroads, will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For information, follow WAMCC on Facebook at "Weirton Area Museum & Cultural Center" or visit www.weirtonareamuseum.com/.