Collings Foundation: Battle for the Airfield

The Collings Foundation will be hosting their second event of the year Saturday and Sunday October 6-7 8:30-4:30. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children. You can find more information here.

The Battle for the Airfield is a World War II event that includes the opportunity to tour the Collings collection and to participate in World War II themed activities. There are tents for Allied and Axis troops that you can tour, see and speak with reenactors to get an idea of what life was like for a World War II soldier. The Battle is fought twice once at 11 and again at 3 each day and by all accounts the outcome is pretty much the same all four times with minor alterations that always occur when anything is live. Just a hint the allies always win.

I feel fortunate to live in an area that celebrates history. Growing up I always had opportunities to explore Colonial and Revolutionary War history, sometimes in my school's backyard. Last year I had the pleasure of bringing family to a World War II experience at the Collings Foundation. Despite the pounding rain, it was an amazing day. The younger kids in the family got to explore exhibits and visit and talk to renanactors from allied and axis camps. Considering the pounding rain visiting the tents was a relief from the wet. Again despite the weather what impressed me most was how willing the reanactors were to answer the children's questions no matter how basic. They treated them with respect and answered them, providing the kids with age appropriate information based on the questions aksed.

The rain delayed the Battle as the planes were having trouble getting into the air. However the kids were interested in pointing out where they'd noticed the tanks from our previous visit during the Spring tour. They wondered if they'd get to see them in action during the fight.

It is a war, people do get killed in the battle although nothing too gruesome. For those with noise issues it gets loud at times with the artillary going off. I suggest chairs or blankets for watching the Battle although with the rain nothing made it too comfortable.

We are planning a trip back this year hoping for better weather and the opportunity to really see and take in all the experiences offered. If the kids enjoyed it this much in the rain I can only imagine it will be even better if we can get their on a rain free day.

That being said the rain did get one of the older kids to comment how awful it must have been to live like that when it rained, so perhaps the rain helped bring some reality to the situation.

Blue Star Museums 2018

The Blue Star Museum program begins again over Memorial Day and will continue through Labor Day. The program offers free admission at participating museums to all active duty, reserve, and National Guard military personnel and their families. The program operates around the country and the website provides an interactive map you can use to locate venues here.

As always, I suggest checking out the site you want to visit before traveling there to get more information.

When I checked out this year's list, the following Massachusetts sites were participating:

Acton:
The Discovery Museums

Amesbury:
Lowell's Boat Shop

Amherst:
Beneski Museum of Natural History
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Attleboro:
Attleboro Arts Museum
Mass Audubon at Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary

Barnstable:
Mass Audubon at Long Pasture Wildlife Santuary

Belmont:
Mass Audubon at Habitat Education Center

Beverly:
Historic Beverly

Boston:
Historic New England Otis House Museum
Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Nichols House Museum
Old South Meeting House
The Mary Baker Eddy Library
The Sports Museum
USS Constitution Museum
Willaim Hickling Prescott House/NSCDA

Cambridge:
Harvard Museum of Natural History
MIT List Visual Arts Center Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology/Harvard

Canton:
Mass Audubon at Museum of American Bird Art

Clinton:
Museum of Russian Icons

Deerfield:
Historic Deerfield
Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association

Duxbury:
Duxbury Rural & Historical Society

Easthampton:
Mass Audubon at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary

Edgartown:
Martha's Vineyard Museum Mass Audubon at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary

Essex:
Cogswell's Grant
Essex Shipbuilding Museum

Gloucester:
Cape Ann Museum
Sargent House Museum

Granville:
NCCHP:

Haverhill:
Buttonwoods Museum

Holyoke:
Wistariahurst

Hyannis:
John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum

Ipswich:
Ipswich Museum

Lenox:
Mass Audubon at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Lincoln:
Mass Audubon at Drumlin Farm

Marshfield:
1699 Winslow House Museum
Mass Audubon at North River Wildlife Sanctuary

Mattapan:
Mass Audubon at Boston Nature Center

Medford:
Royall House and Slave Quarters

Milton:
Mass Audubon at Blue Hills Trailside Museum

Nantucket:
Nantucket Historical Association
Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association
Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum

Natick:
Mass Audubon at Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary

New Bedford:
New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks!
New Bedford Whaling Museum

Newburyport:
Mass Audubon at Joppa Flats Education Center:

Newton:
Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds of Historic Newton
Jackson Homestead and Museum
Norfolk:
Mass Audubon at Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary

North Andover:
North Andover Historical Society

North Easton:
Children's Museum in Easton

Northampton:
Smith College Museum of Art

Princeton:
Mass Audubon at Wachusett Meadow

Salem:
Peabody Essex Museum

South Wellfleet:
Mass Audubon at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Springfield:
Springfield Museums

Stockbridge:
Norman Rockwell Museum

Taunton:
Old Colony History Museum

Topsfield:
Mass Audubon at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

Waltham:
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
Historic New England Lyman Estate

Wenham:
Wenham Museum

Westport:
Mass Audubon at Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary

Williamstown:
Clark Art Institute
Williams College Museum of Art

Worcester:
Mass Audubon at Broad Meadow Brook
Worcester Art Museum

Yarmouth Port:
Edward Gorey House
Historic New England Winslow Crocker House

Old Sturbridge Village: The Charlotte's Web Experience

E.B. White's Charlotte's Web is one of those enduring novels that keeps entertaining children generation after generation. It has been made into movies and theatrical productions.

Now Sturbridge Village is taking on the challenging of creating a musical version based on the classic story located in an actual farm setting. We had the pleasure of attending the Sleepy Hollow performance at the Village and was amazed at the how they effectively utilized the existing village to create a believable setting for the story. Since this is to take place at one of the Village's farms it sounds like they plan on utilizing the strength of what the village has to offer to bring the story to life.

Performances are being given from July 5-August 26 with two performances a day at 11 and 1:30. You will have to pay general admission for Old Sturbridge Village and then the additional cost for the program. Tickets for the first show are $12 and tickets for the second show are $14. There is a $2 discount for tickets purchased prior to June 15. You can find more information here. While it does state your membership will cover general admission for this event, there is nothing to indicate if library passes or other available discounts can be used to offset the general admission costs during these show days. My suggestion would be to call in advance if you are budgeting a discount as part of your trip.