Fundraising takes no holiday, but museums find ways to step up their efforts during pandemic
“On the 12th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a dinner on the Toledo Trol-ley….”
It’s a catchy tune the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum’s Scott Becker just might be singing, especially if a couple of local lords are a-leaping at the chance to board an elegantly restored 1906 parlor car with a few friends for a unique evening out.
The four-person customized culinary adventure prepared by a chef from Bella Serra event venue will cost $1,700, with a $200 discount if a purchaser holds a museum membership.
Only two packages will be sold, and they must be redeemed by Nov. 15, 2021.
While the price may seem steep, it’s a bargain compared with PNC’s Christmas Price Index, which set this year’s cost of seven swans a-swimming at $13,125, the most expensive gift on the 12-day list in a year when the novel coronavirus pandemic pre-empted performances by the ladies dancing, pipers piping and drummers drumming.
The Toledo Trolley doesn’t trundle around the greater Washington area, but gourmets who purchase the go-round will have a chance to board another streetcar for a short excursion.
This has been a challenging year for museums, and the Trolley Museum’s season lasted only from July 2 to mid-November, concluding before the annual Santa Trolley spectacular.
“COVID was coming on too strong,” Becker said. “We came up with an event that met the guidelines, but with the pandemic growing by leaps and bounds, we felt it wasn’t the right time to do it.
“Santa will be virtual.”
For a small fee, the museum website has information on the Holly Jolly Trolley Zoom chat featuring the man in the red suit on Dec. 17, with a registration deadline of noon on Dec. 16.
Another new gift this year is “Operator for an Hour,” instruction with tickets for five and year-long individual membership for $150.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, in announcing its latest round of grants, included the trolley museum with $7,709.
“We’re very appreciative of them doing this, especially this time of the year,” said Becker, executive director of the trolley museum.
“In these days and times you have to think outside the box.”
Another local organization that’s taken that thought process and run with it is the Washington County Historical Society, headquartered at the LeMoyne House at 49 E. Maiden St., Washington.
“It’s been a weird year, as you know,” said Director Clay Kilgore, so the historical society went on a mission to reinvent itself.
Although the Historical Society was open Thursday, Gov. Tom Wolf’s order affecting museums was to take effect Saturday, Dec. 12, through 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 4.
Tours at the LeMoyne House are down by 90%, but website traffic is up due to Kilgore’s “Laid Back History” series on Facebook.
Some of the most-viewed installments have been “Catfish and the Origins of Washington, Pa.,” 4,800; “Grave Markers in Washington Cemetery,” 5,500; and the “Live Dig at the LeMoyne Crematory” with two men wielding metal detectors, topping 6,000 views.
Among those in the audience that stretches from Virginia to California and beyond are former Washington residents, but there are people watching who have never even visited Washington County.
“I know the regulars, a group of 30 who watch every episode,” he said. “It has shown us that people feel like we’re important.”
The organization is so encouraged by viewers’ donations that it doubled its fundraising goal to $20,000. Contributions made through Jan. 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000.
As with other official historical societies in 58 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, the Washington County historians received a minimum of $4,000 through the grant program, awards for which were announced last week.
The maximum any museum could receive was $40,000, a mark that was achieved by the world-renowned Frank Lloyd Wright architectural masterpiece Fallingwater in Mill Run, Fayette County, the summer home of the Kaufmann department store magnate.
“We are pleased to receive financial support from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in the form of a general operating support grant. This funding will be used to reimburse staff salaries at Fallingwater,” wrote Clinton E. Piper, senior administrator of special projects.