Game on

The holiday season is an opportunity to get together with family and friends and celebrate being in each other's company. However, sometimes circumstances occur and a person might find themselves alone during this time.

Dana Davis, the director at the Saratoga Museum was thinking about these people when she decided to have a "Game Night" at the museum on Christmas Eve."The community gives a lot of support to the museum and I wanted to do something to give back to the community," Davis said. "There are a lot of people that don't have family around for the holidays, so I thought, it might be nice to have a game night for those folks and have a little fun."

She said all sorts of games were available that evening. "We had everything from Parchisi to Chess to Lord of the Rings," Davis said.  "We had about 10 different games that could be played, not even counting all the card games." Davis said there were about 20 people participating in the activities and more folks who dropped in to enjoy the deli sandwiches donated by Grumpy Italian and other refreshments the Saratoga Museum provided for the get-together on Christmas Eve.

One group that came for the evening was from the Stepping Stones Youth Center in Rawlins. There were three teenagers and two adults. Stepping Stones Youth Home is a residential facility for youth ages 10 to 17. According to Volunteers of America, Stepping Stones provides a structured environment that promotes social skills, stability and education for youth in crisis. Residents learn life skills and work with staff to create and enact a plan for integration to their families or society more broadly. Stepping Stones also serves as a runaway/homeless youth shelter, which is always accessible to youth.

When the youngsters walked into the building, they became interested in the displays in the museum. Virginia Parker, a volunteer at the museum, started talking to them and for the next two hours, she found herself giving them a guided tour.

"We got to talking and relating it to stuff," Parker said. "Two of them were Native Americans and they were fascinated by the archaeology and all that we have on exhibit."

Parker said she really enjoyed talking to the youth from Rawlins because they were sincerely interested in what Parker explained to them.

"We talked about why the houses all had small rooms," Parker said. "I told them rooms have to be heated and Wyoming is cold. Small rooms need less heat."

Parker said the teenagers from Stepping Stones told her they had been to museums in Rawlins and other places, but none of them were as interesting as Saratoga.

"They told me, nobody spent any time talking to them", Parker said. "They told me no one had explained what they were looking at. Once they understood what they were looking at, they became more interested. They really wanted  to learn."

Parker said one of the biggest thrills for the kids was an opportunity to hold coal.

"They had never done that before," Parker said. "They were also intrigued when I explained toys, before the 1940's, were actually teaching kids something. Dollhouses were made to help little girls understand all the care needed in running a household. Boys learned about guns so they could hunt."

Parker was told by all the students how much they enjoyed the museum tour she had given them.

"They enjoyed it so much, I was told they would be coming back and this time bringing friends," Parker said. "I could tell they really enjoyed themselves." 

Davis also had gifts under a Christmas tree for those who had come to remember the evening. Guest got to pick one out before they left.

"On the way out one boy from Stepping Stones said to me, 'I never knew museums were so cool'," Davis said. "That made me feel so happy that they enjoyed our museum so much. It was such a fun night and I look forward to doing it next year."