Contributed Article/Courtesy Eastern Arizona Museum & Historical Society of Graham County
The W M Carter Farm Museum, located at 30 N. Main St. in Pima, at the north end of a row of historic buildings, has been closed to the public for a few years due to a disintegrating roof, support beams, and weather damage. This Nov. 7 and 8, the building will once again welcome visitors from across the Gila Valley and beyond. For the fourth year, the Eastern Arizona Museum and Historical Society of Graham County will host its Pre-Holiday Bazaar at the spacious Farm Museum, where it has been held previously, with vendors set up among artifacts in the Main Museum on the corner.
Due to grants received from United Way, 6 years of “Fright at the Museum” by Clint Woods and his team of volunteers during the Halloween Season and the work of Wright Brothers’ Welding, new support beams were installed, and the roof was replaced. Also, a United Way grant enabled New Insulation Concepts to spray foam the metal roof. All window glass was replaced throughout the building because many were cracked or broken. Elevated Electrical Services rewired the building. These improvements were made possible by funds from the Rizley Family Foundation and the Arizona Community Foundation, and by labor contributions from New Insulation Concepts and Boulevard Glass.
You may be thinking, “Why so many resources and man-hours committed to saving a crumbling building?” In the mid-1990s, the family of W. M. Carter donated the building and lot to the Eastern Arizona Museum, with the stipulation that their planned “farm” museum bear their patriarch’s name. Valley residents immediately began donating family “treasures” for the new museum, including horse-drawn farm equipment, horse-drawn buggies and wagons, Mt. Graham sawmill equipment and tools, a still, and all manner of farm and ranch tools. Tools and equipment from the 1800s and 1900s that would be lost and forgotten if not housed and cared for. During the mid to late 90s, Ray Kent Ferguson, a local artist and educator, decorated several walls of the Farm Museum with murals depicting pioneer scenes, adding color to the rooms. Due to a lack of personnel to “man” the new museum, it was not open regularly but only for special occasions such as Heritage Days, the Fall Chili Cook-off & auction, or when a family or group requested a tour.
Currently, the Museum Board has decided to display the artifacts along the sides of the rooms and leave the main areas open for events such as the Bazaar and future interactive seminars, where different skills will be taught to various age groups.
The Pre-Holiday Bazaar is sponsored by the Eastern Arizona Museum and Historical Society of Graham County to raise awareness of the museum’s operations in Pima, raise operating funds, and support the vendor community in our valley. This year, we have 20-plus vendors signed up! Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 – 8, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. No admission fee with door prize drawings every hour! Twenty-plus vendors with crafts, arts, jewelry, foods, drinks, treats, clothing, quilts, rocks and minerals, beauty and personal care products, and handmade wood products!
For more information, call 928-250-9260.
