The month has flown. The park opened May 11th with a new
exhibit in place. The buildings were freshly cleaned and set up for the
season. On sunny days, many tourists walk in to see what we are all
about. It seems like the season, like spring, has come early this year.
The Montebello project continues. The footings for the boardwalk were
poured early in June. Integrity began working on the roof. The
building will be close to lock up stage soon. 
Amidst the sound of construction are happy children on school tours.
This is an unusual year. It isn’t the way it is supposed to be, with
heavy equipment operating from behind the construction fence. How do we
tell this story?
The always optimistic General Manager was first out to meet the
children on Thursday, June 1st. Susan Mackie donned her old fashioned
gear to meet Highland Park’s grades ones and threes. The Armstrong
children had come for a “Haney Day” that included tours, games, school,
making ice cream, panning for gold, a walk along Helenita’s nature
trail, and watching a smithy magically turn something hard into another
shape. They were pumped and dressed for the occasion.
Behind the construction fence, Exel’s crews were cutting rebar,
making forms for the concrete pillars that would be poured the next day,
applying “rolled” roofing to the Montebello’s “flat” roof, and just
doing what needed to be done.
Susan was cheerful. The situation wasn’t ideal, but putting her best
food forward, she told the students that Mr. Haney had a lot of money
and was building a new building so that they had more things to see and
do next year. They’d have to come back to see what he was up to!
From a curatorial standpoint, grades 1 and 3 still believe in magic.
You can convince them to suspend disbelieve when they come to the
Village. They also don’t really get worked up or confused about the
obvious conflict between presentations. They comfortably disassociate
being taught how to gold pan by a historical character, Pete the gold
widow, right beside a journeyman carpenter banging away on a new 6,000
square foot building.
What did the students learn? The things we usually teach about the
days of the early settlers. They went away tired, filled with ice cream
that they had help to churn, and, hopefully, wanting to bring their
parents back to see the Montebello project’s progress.
Thank you teachers and parents for your patience! We’re still open for business.