2011 INTERNATIONAL QUESTERS CONVENTION
Learn, experience, discover, tour and enjoy as you travel along the “Trails Across Nebraska” was the invitation for Questers across The Untied States and Canada to attend the 61st International Questers Convention in Omaha, NE, May 13-15, 2011.
Even before the convention officially opened, many Questers and their guests arrived early to take the ‘Early Bird’ tours which included Father Flanagan’s Boys Town, General Crook House and Victorian Gardens, Morman Trail Center Historic Winter Quarters, Gold Coast Historic District, Brandeis Mansion, Joslyn Art Museum, Gerald Ford Birthsite and Gardens and Conservation Center, and Joslyn Castle.
An evening ‘Early Bird’ program,“Westward Trails”, chronicled the westward movement of America’s early explorers, gold seekers and settlers as they crossed the many trails as they journeyed west.
Additional tours were offered on subsequent days. Omaha City Tour highlighted many sights from the Lewis and Clark Landing on the Missouri River to modern downtown. A guided tour of the Orpheum Theater, a 1927 former vaudeville house, left all amazed at the renovations that have restored it to its ornate splendor. Another tour featured the Lauritzen Gardens, a 100-acre botanical garden, and lunch in Johnny’s Cafe, Omaha’s original steak house since 1922, and Bellevue historical sites. The cobble-stoned streets of the Old Market, lined with unique shops and historical buildings & Omaha’s former Union Station, now the Durham Museum, one of the finest examples of classic art decor architecture in the country was the site for one tour. A guided walking tour of the Pioneer Courage and Spirit of Nebraska Wilderness Park enabled participants to see over 100 larger-than-life bronze sculptures representing a wagon train heading west.
Out of town tours included: Lincoln to the State Capitol, Governor’s Mansion, historic homes and buildings & the International Quilt Study Center; Elmwood to the Bess Streeter Aldrich Home (one of Nebraska’s famous authors). Nebraska City, where Arbor Day began, to see historic homes; Fremont to the Louis E. May home, now a museum, and its Victorian Gardens, an 1888 Opera House, now being renovated, as well as antique stores downtown; near Ashland, Strategic Air and Space Museum, a gallery of wildlife species and time for antique shopping;
Near Fort Calhoun, Fort Atkinson & Frahm House as it was in 1905; near Blair, Desota Bend National Wildlife Refuge; Plattsmouth, one of NE’s oldest cities, offered tours of 3 outstanding private homes with owners providing details on history, remodeling & collections. A Victorian Tea was served at one 1886 Queen Ann style home with the owners dressed in Victorian clothing.
The convention consisted of workshops for chapter officers, an open forum involving questions and answers regarding Quester policies and actions, the annual Council business meeting and installation of new officers.
The 2011 Founders Award topic was “Trials and Trails of Pioneer Women”. The winners were announced and AZ’s own, Pat Rinebarger of Four Peaks Chapter #1207, was awarded a certificate for First Honorable Mention. The Founders Award is for a study paper researched and written on the year’s specific topic. The 2012 Founders Award topic is “Steamboats of the Chesapeake Bay”. These topics relate to the next year’s convention site, which will be Baltimore, MD in 2012. Several of the tours were announced, including Ft. McHenry, that will be celebrating its 200 year anniversary; Edgar Allen Poe’s grave, a WWII Liberty ship and sites relating to John Brown, the abolitionist.
State Presidents gave annual reports of their state activities. Among the program topics were, “Vintage Eyeware”, “History of the Bra”, “Button Hooks”, “Paper Stand-ups of Movie Stars”,“Springerle Cookies”and “We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby”. Displays at state meetings were by the State Historical Society, as well as ethnic group costumes. An Antique Road Show appraiser and an antique show was sponsored. Colorado has a State P& R Project and Ohio has a State Study Paper contest.
AZ’s President, Victoria Clark, reported that AZ has had chapters for 36 years and currently has 32 chapters with 500 members. Questers will be involved with observances of Arizona’s Statehood Centennial in 2012.
Evening events were the President’s Reception to meet the International Executive Board, and following dinner the entertainer presented a program of songs with excerpts from the works of Nebraska’s greatest authors and a narrative from 1850 to 1904 relating stories of early pioneers, settlers and Native Americans.
The annual banquet with the program theme, “The Role of Women in the Westward Migrations”, enabled us to travel back in time as the speaker related her adventures on a 1999 re-enactment of an 1849 journey by covered wagon on the California Trail. She shared excerpts from diaries of emigrant women who made the same trek in the 1800’s.
The Farewell dinner on the closing night was all fun and games. A Game Show involved audience members, on stage, answering questions and the last team standing won a cash donation to the P&R project of their choice.
Entertainment at the Annual Luncheon was an educational, humorous and lively program presented by a “frontiersman” who portrayed George Drouillard, a valuable member of Lewis and Clark’s expedition.
Everyone looks forward to the Bess Barden seminars where collections are displayed & their history is shared by volunteers, usually Quester members. Topics were: “Vintage Underwear”, “Casters Unlimited”, “Rose O’Neill Kewpies” and “American Woven Coverlets”.
The 16 Questers from Arizona who attended the convention were: Victoria Clark, Linda Starr, May Baker, Ginger Williams, Beth Neibuhr, Arlene Bright, Phyllis Sylvester, Kitty Wilcox, Essie Mae Allbritton, Doris Palmer, Dottie Campbell, Pat Rinebarger, Vera Anderson, Sandra Jordan, ______, and ______.