Runestone Museum Board of Directors celebrated members, volunteers and more at annual meeting

ALEXANDRIA – Lots of items were celebrated at the Runestone Museum's annual meeting, which took place Thursday, May 19.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held prior to the meeting to recognize the new mural on the west side of the stagecoach stop building in Fort Alexandria. The mural was painted and donated by local artist, Char Slack. Some of her work, which she did at the start of the pandemic, was seen at Alomere Health.

The ribbon cutting ceremony was followed by a light reception where museum members were encouraged to explore new exhibits and exhibit updates, including new audio and visual components inside the 1868 Miltona stagecoach stop exhibit and in the Jingle Dress exhibit.

At the annual meeting, organization members celebrated the museum's 2021 net income being $20,000 higher than in 2020 as it continues to recover from the negative pandemic impact, noted Amanda Seim, executive director of the Runestone Museum.

She added that volunteers and contributed volunteer hours were recognized, as well, with the museum recording more than 850 volunteer hours in 2021. Seim said it was pointed out that since 2021, the volunteer program has grown to include a volunteer coordinator and that the first four months of 2022, the museum has already had more than 600 volunteer hours contributed to the organization.

Seim said the Runestone Museum Board of Directors recognized and said goodbye to directors Mike Cass, who also served as past president, and Sarah Reif, who also served as past secretary. Both Cass and Reif served six years with the museum and will be eligible to serve again in 2023.

And she noted that the Board of Directors welcomed back previous board member, Geri Zabrosky, who was voted onto the Board of Directors by members of the museum via ballot voting. Zabrosky also serves as the current volunteer coordinator at the Runestone Museum.

The officers sworn in at the meeting, Seim said, included Bill Meyer as president, Sally Smith as treasurer and Nikki Schabel as the Secretary.