Cashmere museum updates with new curator, garden

CASHMERE – The Cashmere Museum and Pioneer Village has a lot to offer this season, including a few changes. 

Last week, Cashmere Rotary members began working on a pollinator garden at the museum.

“We're really excited about that,” said Visitor Services Coordinator Brittany Becker.

“And we've got some new staff, we hired a new curator,” she said. “So we're really just kind of working on getting things, you know, squared away around here and maybe making some changes and making some decisions about that.”

The new curator, Kasey Koski, is an interdisciplinary artist and educator with extensive curating experience. She served as exhibit curator for the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and curator for the Chelan County Museum.

“We've kind of had things stay the same for quite some time, but we're feeling like now is the time for change,” Becker said. “So we feel like this year is going to be really good for that. We're really optimistic about what the season looks like.”

The museum’s open season begins in April, but things really start to ramp up in June. 

“Actually, June is packed with fun events,” Becker said.

The first big event will be the Historic Home Tour on Saturday, June 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event provides a rare opportunity to tour historic properties that are usually not open to the public. There are six homes and one church included in the tour. Ticket sales for the event will support the museum.

Tickets may be purchased online at cashmeremuseum.org or can be purchased at the museum on the day of the event.

“The second weekend in June, we're having a bow making class by the traditional Bowhunters of Washington,” Becker said. “They're coming down and they're putting on a two day seminar where they provide the wood to students and their parents and from the beginning to the end, they show them how to make the bow.”

The class is for ages 10-16 and runs from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 8 and from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 9.

During Cashmere’s Founder’s Days the museum will hold a re-dedication of the Tree of Peace on Saturday, June 29 at 1 p.m.

“We are re-dedicating the Tree of Peace that was planted at the museum in 1989 in conjunction with members of the Colville Confederated Tribes and the State of Washington,” Museum Director Nicky Clennon said.

“Several Indigenous artists and craftspeople have been invited to come and showcase their talents before and after the event,” she said. “Admission to the event is free. We hope that many will join us for this special event!”

Wendell George, a tribal leader, wrote about the upcoming event.

“The tree of Peace represents needed healing,” he said. “The Great Tree is a living evergreen that represents the healing color Green. Green is at the center of our visual color spectrum and helps provide balance. The tree needles represent the people; the bundles of needles, families; the branches, Nations; the trunk is Nations joined in a confederacy and the roots tie the whole to the earth.”

The museum houses 13,000 square feet of Native American artifacts, taxidermy, ornithology, pioneer history and more.  

“And then outside of course, in the Pioneer Village, we've got the incredible cabins from all around the area within about a 20 mile radius,” Becker said. “They've all been disassembled and rebuilt on the property here. Totally a labor of love. Definitely a community based thing for sure.”

“Our museum is, if you haven't been here, it is 100% more than meets the eye,” she said.

“Every single guest that I've had come in here that says ‘oh, we were just driving by, we thought we'd check it out’ and then by the time they get through at the end, they are just totally blown away,” she said. 

“I've had people tell me this is a world class Museum, a hidden gem, you don't know what you're missing,” she said. “I mean, it's really pretty phenomenal. If you haven't been here, it's hard to even explain what treasures we have.”

The museum is open April through October Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information visit cashmeremuseum.org. 

Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media.