Museums offer 'Sunday Sampler' for families, friends

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GREAT FALLS, Mont --  The Great Falls Museum Consortium will hold its 9th Annual Sunday Sampler on Sunday, April 5 from noon until 5 p.m. Admission to all 10 museums in Great Falls is free, and most of the museums have special activities planned for families.

"Sunday Sampler is a day for families to re-visit their favorite local museum or to step out and add a new museum to their museum list," said Robert Thomson, chairman of the Museums Consortium. "What better thing to do as a family on a Sunday afternoon?"

With 10 museums in the Great Falls area, the choices are as varied as your family's interest. Each has unique stories to share and experience. For families and individuals with the ambition to visit three museums that afternoon, consider participating in the treasure hunt and become eligible to win museum prizes. Look for the treasure hunt flyer in the Great Falls Tribune or your child's Wednesday school envelope; correctly answer the questions posed by three of the museums and drop your answer form with the last museum visited. Prize drawings will be done at the end of the day.

It's Sunday, be with your family and enjoy a little museum time

Here's what the museums are planning on April 5:
At the Children's Museum of Montana, learn how recycling helps protect our waterways, and the plants and animals on earth. An afternoon activity, recycling art, will give children an opportunity to create a beautiful work of art using recycled materials from their home and neighborhood. Art is all about creativity. Open your eyes to the possibilities of crafting from items in your recycle bin.

Tour the new bison exhibit at the C.M. Russell Museum, then visit Galleries Six and Eleven for clues to your treasure hunt. Join museum staff as they show you samples of Native American ledger art and provide you the tools to create their own ledger style piece to take home.

Take the short drive to the scenic First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park for a panoramic view of the prairie and historic jump site. Make a point to be there at 2 p.m. to hear Gene Hickman speak about fur trade-era trade goods.

Find your way to Galerie Trinitas in the Chapel on the UGF campus, and enjoy a personalized look at the art works of Sister Mary Trinitas Morin. Sister Trinitas joined the Sisters of Providence and applied her artistic talents as an instructor, at then, College of Great Falls in the 1930s. Sister was a prolific artist creating works in many different media - silversmith, wood carving, pottery, paints and pastels. See many of her pieces on display in the Galerie.

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center is exploring the birds and the bees, and the world of pollination with several activities for children. Plants need pollination to survive. Discover how flowers use fragrance and color to attract pollinators; then make your own nectar flower or sweet scented bubbles. Learn how wind helps pollinate too and test wind direction after making your own wind flag. At noon and 2 p.m. meet local beekeeper, Mark Jensen, and learn the process of making honey - from flower to hive to your home. The afternoon ends with a showing of "The Bee Movie" at 3 p.m.

Malmstrom AFB Museum will be open for visitors to browse the permanent exhibits. Enjoy the outside aircraft on display - F-101B/F, Voodoo; B-25J, Mitchell Bomber; EB-57 B/E, Canberra; F-84F, Thunderstreak; UH-IF, Huey (Iroquois); T-33, Shooting Star; KC-97G, Stratotanker; LGM-30G Minute Man III, ICBM. Inside see one of the largest military model aircraft displays in the northwest, flight suit and survival equipment displays; MinuteMan I and II missile launch consoles; Minute Man Launch Facility cutaway, Army Air Corps and US Air Force uniform display, and much more.

The Montana Museum of Railroad History will feature operating scale model railroad trains, including diesel and steam passenger and freight train models running on the extensive Great Falls Model Railroad Club layout. Take a tour through historic Burlington Northern caboose #12377. Built in July 1980, this historic caboose served on BN and BNSF Railway until 2008, well past the mid-1990s, when most cabooses had been retired. The museum is located in Montana ExpoPark.

Explore the world of paper-folding at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art's afternoon origami workshop. Learn both the classic origami techniques and some new designs, too. Don't miss the unique permanent collection of "stick men" by outsider artist, Lee Stee, and the current exhibitions including works by Jim Poor, the University of Great Falls faculty and the Vision, Strength and Arts exhibit of works by artists with disabilities.

Stop by The History Museum and view the special exhibit about the Women's World Basketball Champions.

The historic Ursuline Center building will be open for public tours. Built in 1912, this beautifully remodeled landmark on Central Avenue opened its doors to 151 boys and girls in grades K-8. Be sure to visit the Heritage Gallery and view the photographs of students, classes, basketball teams, special events and pictures of this historic building from 1912 to 1964. Today, the Academy serves as a memorial to the Ursuline Sisters teaching order, who influenced many young lives and helped shape the history of Montana. The center also serves as a retreat and meeting center, and museum of antiques and Indian artifacts. The Ursuline Center, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, is a reminder of earlier days in our community.