The Enumclaw Plateau Historical Society is putting on quite a show for their annual History Award Dinner and Dessert Auction, scheduled for April 23.
The event is planned at the Enumclaw Masonic Lodge, 42810 264th Ave SE. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Dinner is planned to start at 6 p.m. Tickets are $22.
The vast majority of the event has been put together with local resources; dinner will be provided by Enumclaw’s New York Catering, music and dancing supplied by the Plateau Community Orchestra along with a dessert auction provided by Enumclaw residents.
The award dinner is one of two of the society’s larger fundraisers which helps the group keep the Enumclaw Historical Museum open.
According to the museum’s board of directors, it costs roughly $13,000 to keep the museum in operation.
Grants and dues helps the society stay afloat, but they depend on donations from Enumclaw and Plateau residents to fill any gaps in their funding.
“It’s important to have fundraisers – it’s necessary to do this,” said board president Ron Tyler during the society’s board meeting April 7. “It helps qualify us for getting the 4Culture grant, too, or any other grant. They want to know you’re doing something.”
The society currently receives a $3,000 grant from the King County 4Culture, a public development authority that helps fund heritage, arts and cultural opportunities across the county.
Society updates
Along with a new website and email address for the public to access, the society is finally setting up new computers and an internet connection, thanks to a surplus donation from the city of Enumclaw.
Internet access will allow society members and docents to help members of the public do research when they visit the museum.
The society is also on the final leg of organizing the Pioneer Collection, which was given to the society in 2013.
Much of the collection was donated by the well-known Schlotfeldt family to the Enumclaw library in 1963 and consists of several historical objects and “thousands and thousands” of photo and paper documents detailing the history of the Plateau, Tyler said. The society has spent the last three years archiving the Pioneer Collection for public viewing and research.
“It’s taken hundreds and hundreds of hours to get this stuff taken care of,” Tyler said.
With this project coming to an end, the society will be turning to a new project: cataloging more than 100 pounds of 33 millimeter negatives donated to the society from the Courier-Herald. The negatives, Taylor guesses, go back to at least 1963, but he can’t be sure until the society raises the funds for a negative reader.
