The Greater Bonney Lake Historical Society and the city of Bonney Lake are celebrating the city’s 70th anniversary of incorporation this week.
From noon to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, the historical society’s resource center in the Public Works Building off Bonney Lake Boulevard will be open with three new displays, as well as a slideshow showing off all the work the historical society has done over its 18 years of existence.
There will also be two special presentations — one at 1 p.m. and another at 6 p.m. — by volunteer Winona Jacobsen and Mayor Neil Johnson.
“To me, GBLHS is very important partner to the City of Bonney Lake. They do a tremendous job in finding so many pieces of our history that were not so easy to find,” Johnson said in an email interview. “Being only 70 years old, we are still relatively young so we will need GBLHS to record our future. I really appreciate all their energy and wanting to share their findings with all of us.”
The event is not just to celebrate the city’s history, but also to drum up support for the Historical Society, said former president JoAnn Taylor. The society was facing dissolution last summer as many active members, including Taylor and Jacobson, were moving out of the Bonney Lake area and could not maintain their volunteer levels.
Because of this, the society attempted to lobby the Bonney Lake City Council to fund a part-time position to staff the museum during open hours, assist with research and grant writing, manage sales, facilitate tours and develop exhibits, connect with other local nonprofits, and do public outreach for other volunteers.
The council voted the proposal down 5-2 in November 2018.
Although former leaders feared having to dissolve after the failed effort, it appears the limelight helped revitalize the historical society — a new Board of Directors have officially been elected, although the society’s website, www.gblhs.org, has yet to be updated.
With a new board in place, Jacobsen, Taylor, and other members of the previous board are using this event as an official changing of the guard, with former President Dennis Dhaese once again taking the reigns.
“We’ve been sprucing up the Resource Center in the old city hall — I was in there today and it looks really nice, with displays of artifacts we’ve collected over the years,” said Dhaese, who was president of the society for 12 years before Taylor was elected.
Historically, the society hasn’t had the room to display much in the space they’ve been leased by the city, but volunteer Linda Wagner made some good use of the space to get a few set up, including a 1950s Westinghouse TV Combination, which was a television, phonograph, and radio all in one device, plus an attached record player. The display will include a 1950s commercial playing on a nearby modern device, showing viewers how to operate the television and it’s various parts.
Even though the resource center has its confines, the society is looking for items for previous and current residents to donate, specifically “flat” items like photographs and documents, which are more easily displayed than larger items.
“What we dearly would love to get a hold of are yearbooks from the various schools around the area,”said Glenn Taylor, JoAnn’s husband. “Grade school, high school, college, whatever — there’s so much information. We’ve got thousands of pictures, and so far, we can’t identify who they are.”
Finally, the society will be unveiling a new interactive history activity Bonney Lake residents and visitors can participate in, especially when the weather turns for the better.
For more information about the event, go to www.facebook.com/events/344578766141800/.
You can also email the historical society at gblhs2013@gmail.com.
Resource Center open hours are typically 9 a.m. to noon, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
