STANWOOD — The winner of this year’s Malstrom Award for heritage projects is the book “Stuck in the Mud: The History of Warm Beach” by teacher and historian Penny Hutchison Buse.
The award was presented in March when people from county historical organizations crowded into the Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center in Stanwood for the annual Malstrom workshops, meetings and awards lunch.
“The volunteers of these local groups also are honored at the event. They spend literally thousands of unpaid hours preserving history and historic places, writing, cataloging and researching to bring some of the fascinating facts of our past to students and the general public,” said Karen Prasse, a volunteer with the Stanwood Area Historical Society and president of the League of Snohomish County Heritage Organizations.
“Unlike in other counties, we have no taxpayer-supported museums,” Prasse said. “The historical societies depend on stalwart volunteers, many of whom have been working for more than 25 years in each of their community organizations.”
Along with Buse’s book, the first and only history of Warm Beach, the other projects nominated for the Malstrom award were:
•The interpretive displays at the Heritage Park Museum run by the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association. The displays include the history of the Wickers mercantile building.
“Chirouse,” the story of the Rev. Father Eugene Casimir Chirouse, a pioneer in Oregon and Washington territories, by Betty Gaeng, which was sponsored by the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society. Chirouse worked among the Coast Salish people and spent years at what is now the Tulalip reservation.
The conversion of 10,000 pages of Granite Falls newspapers into digital records for easy research. Managed by Fred Cruger and sponsored by the Granite Falls Historical Society.
The Monroe Veterans Day Exhibit, managed by Butch Ohlsen and sponsored by the Monroe Historical Society. The project told the stories of many Vietnam War veterans.
Presentation
Penny Buse, winner of this year’s Mahlstrom Award for her history of Warm Beach, plans to talk about her book “Stuck in the Mud” at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society Library, 215 French Ave., Arlington. The presentation is free and copies of the book will be for sale.
For more information, go to www.snocoheritage.org.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.