Meeting will be held for docents
The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department is looking for volunteers to help show off one of Aiken’s most popular attractions.
A recruitment meeting for potential docents for Hopelands Gardens, Rye Patch, the Doll House and the Carriage Museum will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 21, in the Rye Patch Reception Center.
A presentation on points of interest will be given by recreation program supervisor Lisa J. Hall, and those interested in volunteering can sign up for specific duties at the meeting.
“I’ve been put in charge of this new program, similar to what I already have in place at the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum,” Hall said. “I think, to make the program successful, we’ll probably need 20 to 30 volunteers. A lot of it is finding someone who’s going to be available if I call and say, ‘I’ve got a group coming in from Charleston looking for a tour specifically on the camellia garden, are you available on this date?’ Right now, we don’t have anyone volunteering at the Carriage Museum, and we’d like to have that open regular hours. The Doll House right now is only open on Sundays, and the Garden Clubs Council handles that, but we get a lot of requests to see that on Saturdays, so we’d like to have docents for it.”
Once the recreation department has the sign-up lists, it will tailor volunteer schedules to match the volunteers’ areas of interest, Hall said.
The department is also printing brochures with points of interest in Hopelands Gardens that will be placed at the park entrances for use by the docents and by those on self-guided tours. The brochures will focus on points of historic interest and on the park’s flora and fauna.
“We’d like to have not only people who live here have the opportunity to see these attractions but also visitors from out of town,” Hall said.
Those interested in attending the recruitment meeting can call Hall at 642-7650 or e-mail lhall@cityofaikensc.gov.
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Annual craft show is coming Dec. 3-4
The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department is preparing for the 39th annual Christmas Craft Show at the H. Odell Weeks Activities Center.
The craft show is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5 with vendor booths both inside and outside the center on Whiskey Road. The show will feature exhibitors from across the Southeast, and vendors with Thai food, Southern barbecue, the classic hot dog, kettle corn and funnel cakes.
Crafters will have such handmade wares as ceramics, jewelry, artwork, holiday ornaments and decorations, and other unique creations for sale, according to recreation supervisor Lisa J. Hall.
“I think this show gives an opportunity for small businessmen and women with home-based businesses a chance to get out, earn a little bit of money for the Christmas season, and it gives folks who live here the chance to get some last-minute gifts at reasonable prices. It’s just fun; this is the 39th year, so evidently we’re doing something right,” Hall said.
The Christmas Craft Show will also have one very special guest: The big guy in red himself, Santa Claus, will be at the Weeks Center for photographs with children from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; no outside cameras will be allowed in Santa Land, according to Hall. There will also be a Crafts for Kids activity booth for children on Saturday.
Admission and parking are free. For more information about the Christmas Craft Show, call the H. Odell Weeks Activities Center at 642-7631.
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