 Hi, and welcome to In the World of Winooski. For this month's episode, I'm joined by the executive director of the Heritage Winooski Mill Museum, an organization based in Winooski that brings arts, culture, and historic programming into our community. I'm pleased to welcome Miriam Block. Miriam, why don't you introduce yourself? Hi, thank you so much for having me. Yes, I'm the executive director for the Heritage Winooski Mill Museum. It's my eighth year being director of the museum. I'm just so excited to be here. Can you tell us a little bit about the museum? Yeah, sure. So we tell the history of the textile mills in Winooski and the people who worked there. So, so many people in the community, especially if they've lived, if they've had family in Winooski for generations, probably had a family member that worked at the mills. So we've collected stories over the years of the people who've worked there. And the history in general of New England mills, you know, Winooski is a common typical mill town. And so that's basically what our exhibits are about in the museum. That is awesome. Will you tell us a little bit about exhibits, events that you have coming up? Sure. So actually, this year is the museum's 25th anniversary. The museum was started in 1998. Some people might remember going into the museum when it was on the second floor in the Champlain Mill, across from the library, when the library was also in the Champlain Mill in the 90s. And so we have a small exhibit up at the museum about the history of the museum. And also in September, we're gonna have a celebration the beginning of September over Labor Day weekend on a Sunday. What day is it? The September 3rd. More details will be coming later this summer about that. But we like to have events on Sundays so people can go to the farmer's market and then come to the museum and have free parking. A lot of good things coalescing together there. Yes, yeah. What other exhibits or events are coming up? Oh yeah, so we have a brand new exhibit in the museum called Story Kiosk. We got a really great grant from the Vermont Arts Council, a, what was the name of the grant? The Digital Capacity Grant. So we purchased this system called the Story Kiosk in which people can record short digital stories and we can share them with the community. And so the reason for this is often people come to the museum as I mentioned before and they will share with me a tidbit about their connection to the mill or they'll talk about their family heritage. And I love hearing those stories but we need a way to save and collect that information and share it. So the Story Kiosk is this digital platform in which people can record a 90-second story like that and then we can share it. So this is a little postcard about what we do and you can come into the museum and you can record in the museum at a little kiosk there or if you can record from your home as well. In the postcard we have this QR code in which people can use their camera on their phone. Maybe push it out a little see if people can capture it from there. You can neither do it that way but you can also go to our website and you can find the link there to record a story. So you don't have to come to the museum to do it. You can do it from your home and because it's our 25th anniversary we are giving away $25 gift card. We have two of them to Waterworks for anybody who records a story between now and our party in September and thanks to Waterworks for donating those gift cards to encourage people to participate. So we'd love to have some stories. We've got some great stories already and you can go to our website and hear some of them. Also this past semester we had a student from Champlain College who was working with me as an intern and he created a really great promo video about it so we could share it right now so that people could kind of get a sense of what it is that is involved with recording a story. That's awesome. Let's get that promo video pulled up and for folks reference it is themilmuseum.org that is the website. Coming to a new country can create a sense that you're an outcast. When you realize that everybody has a similar story you have a better sense of belonging. When I see a new video recorded on the story telling Kiosk I'm always really excited because the stories are so genuine. They're about a minute to two minutes long where people will talk about very personal experiences that either they had or their family had with coming to America, coming to Vermont or just moving to a new ski as well as what it was like for their families working at a mill. My family is connected with a very early history of weaving. We have a family line that we restored. My father came off a reservation. He grew up on Lake Winnipesaki. I am a recent immigrant to Winnipesaki. Taking the time to listen to other stories will give you a better understanding of their differences and what we all have in common. You can either record a story from the museum or from the comfort of your own home on your phone or laptop. All you have to do is go to themillmuseum.org find story Kiosk, click online here, continue. Then enter your name, email and zip code. Then you'll have an option to select a connection you have with Mills, a special story about your family immigration or words of welcome and advice about living in the US. You just record your a minute to 90 second video and then submit it and it will appear on the story telling Kiosk at the museum. Come use the story Kiosk and you can tell your story. It's easy to find for right by the Winnieski River just off of Main Street. Getting to hear those stories is really exciting for me. And I think it would be for everyone else who would come to the museum. That's awesome. I really love the prompts. You know, you mentioned earlier, folks telling about their connections to the mill. I hear those stories too around town. But also the connection to immigration and the rich history that Winnieski has of being a city where folks immigrated in and potentially worked in the mills or now in other industries. I'm looking forward to recording a story myself soon. I can't wait to see that. Yeah, I'm excited. And so I'd love to hear more about the other kind of programs and services that the museum provides. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mentioned that my intern made that video. So we do have interns every semester. They're paid internships. Last summer, we had a student from Winnieski High School also interning. So they can be college students. They can be high school students just having a real interest in history or working with the community. And so that's something that we help promote and getting people a taste of what it's like to work at a museum. We also have school groups come and throughout the school year, that's pretty common. And Winnieski schools can come. We actually offer free tours to Winnieski schools specifically. Oh, awesome. So yeah, so any teachers from the Winnieski schools that are interested, we just ask them to call ahead of time, talk to me so that we can plan the curriculum and set a date for them to come. But it's really easy because they can just walk and take a nice walk and come to the museum. And we've done special projects also, especially with the arts programs there. We've done special curated projects with students from the schools. Also, we get tours from senior centers and that's really lovely. Today, we actually had a group from UVM's continuing education program, Ali Come. So from all different ages, they come to the museum and we give special tours. Now for an individual who just wants to drop in, what are your hours? What is the, is there an entry fee? It's free for everyone. Then we are open from 12 to four on Thursdays and Fridays. And occasionally on special occasions, like for example, this past Sunday was French Heritage Day and we were open for that. And of course, as I mentioned in September, we'll be open on a Sunday then. But if anybody wants to come and they are unable to come during those hours, they can always contact me and arrange for a special appointment, especially sometimes we get people from out of town who are just coming to research their family history and they'll call and say, I'm only gonna be here on a Wednesday. Of course, we'll arrange for you to be able to come in and see the exhibits. That's really awesome. We've experienced so much change in Winooski over the years. I think having a resource like this that's free and open to the community is a really good opportunity for folks who are new or younger who aren't familiar with that history. Like here is a great resource to come and learn about the history of Winooski and the region in general. And we definitely make an effort to reach the newer community members that's really important to us. Because so many of the immigrants and refugees in our community don't really know the history of the Champlain Mill. They just see a large building and how would they know, right? So we make an effort to reach out in ways that are comfortable to, or try to make ways that are more comfortable to that community. We did this project last year called Welcome Blanket where the general community was invited to make blankets that were then gifted to the refugee population in our community. And I worked with AALV in Burlington to help distribute the blankets to their clients. And many of them are from Winooski or live in Winooski. Then at AALV, the case worker that I worked with who you may know, Irene Webster, also Caribo, she is a case worker there and also a Winooski resident. So she and I, she was very excited about this project and she also works with East African women there to do a support group for them. And she's always looking for opportunities for them to be more engaged in community activities. And she asked me if they could pre-participants in Welcome Blanket as makers, not just blanket receivers. And I love that idea. And so we arranged to have these women learn how to knit and some of them already knew, some of them already knew how to crochet. But we supported them with the supplies to have a teacher to help organize the project so that they could participate as makers. They loved it so much, they wanted to continue. So we've extended our project and now it's called Stitch Together in which the women, we meet twice a month at AALV. And as I said, many of them are residents of Winooski. They go there and we just hang out and we knit and we just love it. And I do have another video that Tyler, my intern, made about that. So we could watch that and you could see a little bit about what that's about. Great, let's take a look at this one. Stitch Together is an ongoing series of textile workshops that are organized by the Heritage Winooski Mill Museum and held at AALV in Burlington. My name is Irene Kerubo. I prefer to be called Kerubo. And I work for the Association of Africans Living in Vermont. And I work with a group of women that are war survivors and we typically meet every week for various reasons and they come here to just heal from trauma. We began these workshops in 2022 as a way for East African refugee women to participate as blanket makers in our Welcome Blanket Project. The workshop participants learn new skills in knitting, crocheting, and needle felting. In our first two projects, the women collectively produced two handmade blankets. The finished blankets were first displayed at the Mill Museum as part of our Welcome Blanket exhibit. Then the blankets were gifted to new Americans as a gesture of welcome. Our Get Together's provide a safe space to relax and unwind from work and the stress of daily life. It's a time to learn new skills while socializing with each other. It's not coming because for one it's a skilled one, already new, but she has an opportunity to keep learning new skills, hang out with her friends, learn more, teach others. Stitch Together is also an outlet and opportunity for women to meet and connect with people beyond their circle of refugee friends and to strengthen their sense of belonging in the greater community. Stitch Together is not just about learning to knit. It's about healing, empowerment, and community building. So she had known for knowledge about knitting, but now she has learned quite a bit and she needs something to pass on maybe to her kids or to her friends, but you just never know. But I love coming. That was so great to see Miriam. I love the idea of bringing the old and the new together. And it's been fantastic also because it's a reason for women in these community who may not feel welcome in our museum to feel welcome and to come in and find connections between what they know and to understand a little bit more about the history of where they now live, right? Because textiles are universal. So they can make those connections. And as I mentioned, many of them already knew how to crochet. Maybe they crocheted as kids in Africa and making those connections to some of the history of Winooski is just, it's really great. Makes you feel more grounded in where you live. Yeah. Certainly. Yeah, and the Story Key Ask program, what a great way to get folks engaged. Again, bringing in new stories to add to our rich history here in Winooski. Yeah. As a reminder, folks can learn more or record their own story at TheMillMuseum.org. And if you wanna just give a quick explanation about how to find the museum. Absolutely, yeah. So we're located in the Champlain Mill, which is on Winooski Falls Way. And there is a ramp to get into the main entrance on the third floor. It's got a green railing on it. And you just walk up that ramp into the building and we're straight ahead. So, but you can only get there on, the doors are open on Thursdays and Fridays from 12 to four. All right, great. And then we'll be on the lookout for the 25th anniversary celebration this fall. Stay tuned for any other updates. If you aren't following, remember, it's TheMillMuseum.org. Do you have a newsletter? Am I mistaken about that? We have a recent newsletter, actually. And we dropped off some copies at City Hall. Oh, yeah. And also at the library. So, if you can't drop into the museum on a Thursday or Friday, you can find copies at those locations. That's so great. And you mentioned folks could reach out if they wanted to schedule an off hours visit or something. Is there a phone number or an email to share? Yeah, you can just email info at TheMillMuseum.org and our phone number is on the website 802-355-9937. Awesome, yeah. Well, thank you so much, Miriam. It's been really great to hear more about this wonderful resource that we have in our city. I hope more folks will engage and have become enlightened about something. Maybe they didn't realize we had a museum right in downtown Winooski. I really appreciate you taking the time. And thank you everyone for joining us again for In the World of Winooski. Stitch Together is an ongoing.