Spark your imagination with Smithsonian exhibit
Say the name Smithsonian and it calls to mind our country's capital Washington, D.C. — a long stretch from North Idaho. One program in this multi-museum Institution has traveled to our small community of Priest River and parked itself in our town library on Main Street. “SPARK! Places of Innovation” will be open library hours through the end of June.
I'm the kind of person who can hang out in a museum for hours, intrigued by what I see and read. This interactive display can take time — or just a quick walk-through. However you want to do it — but do it!
The exhibit details small towns from all across America — and how they have drawn from fields of Art, Social, Technology, and Heritage to make their communities places of welcome and fun and innovation — as well as prospering businesses and creating opportunities for learning and working together.
The stories are amazing! I took the time to use the simple scanning device and listen to each individual and town story. I was pleased to see that over half the U.S. population prefers to live rural — if full-time telecommuting is available. One man spoke of how he only thought about getting away from his small southern town. He did — and found people wanted the experiences he'd had growing up in country life. As an artist, he's back home drawing and selling those memories — including fishing with his grandmother.
Another Midwest community saw its population change as more Hispanic people moved to their area — filling a void in labor. But the two populations were living in a “parallel universe.” They came together in “It's a Time to Talk” to share their heritage. Following a community fiesta one Hispanic woman said, “I've lived in this town twenty-five years, and this is the first time I have ever felt seen.”
The owner of Jack's Pizza in an East Coast town employed teens — and saw close up how they were struggling in school. He started a program providing mentorship, financial freedom, college prep, and more. “And it's working!”
I'm captivated by one town's “pop-up university.” Every March people come from all over to take free courses from “professors” of all ages — everything from beer making and vehicle maintenance, to medicinal herbalism and “How ANYONE Can Go Solar,” to bread baking and conversational French and blacksmithing. Classes meet in homes, in public spaces, in businesses.
A community in Wisconsin started a “chef-to-farm” idea. Chefs from some of the restaurants the farms supply prepare foods for summertime farm tourists. Another area depended on their cherry season to supply their economy — but demand shifted. An innovative someone created a process for drying and packaging the fruit — and the result was Cherry De-lites. Knowing the health benefits in cherries this person expanded, and adapted the local resource to a new sports drink.
The SPARK! Exhibit asks why innovation flourishes in some places and not others. It challenges us as individuals to be the “place of innovation.” How a single person can have an idea — a spark — to begin something wonderful in any community.
There's one more week to visit West Bonner County library's community room and see this classy display. And just maybe leave with a few sparks ahead of the Fourth of July.