Chorus will sing among the toys: Collections to be featured at Glidden Homestead Holiday Open House
By DAILY CHRONICLE
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| Kishwaukee Barbershop Chorus will perform holiday music as part of the Glidden Homestead’s annual Holiday Open House on Nov. 22. They also sang at the homestead in September. (Provided photo.) |
Pre-1950s toys and dolls of all types will be featured at the annual Holiday Open House at DeKalb’s Joseph F. Glidden Homestead and Historical Center.
Marbles and jacks, trains and scooters, skates, toy soldiers, baby buggies and dolls of every description will be the centerpiece of the event to be held from noon-4 p.m. Nov. 22 at the historic site where Glidden invented “The Winner” barbed wire, for which he received a patent Nov. 24, 1874.
Local residents will exhibit their toy collections throughout the homestead, including many items especially for boys. An ornament-making project will be offered for children on the homestead’s lower level.
The Holiday Open House also will feature tours of the festively decorated house, educational displays, music and refreshments, according to a recent news release.
The homestead is located at 921 W. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb, between Copy Service and Burger King.
Kishwaukee Valley Barbershop Chorus will perform holiday music from about 1:30-2:15 p.m. in the Homestead’s West Parlor. The chorus includes 15 members, who are in their teens through age 70. The group holds about 10 performances a year, usually at nursing homes and retirement centers, and performs at various events such as the Glidden Homestead’s Sunday open house throughout the year.
Director of the chorus is John Hansen, who has been a member since 1966. The local group is part of the Society of the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America Inc., which has about 30,000 members throughout the world.
The homestead’s Gift Shop will be open that day as well, featuring many unique barbed wire items unavailable anywhere else, commemorating Glidden’s invention, which became the most widely used type of barbed wire in the world, according to the release.
Among items featured in the gift shop are barbed wire wreaths, handmade items from local blacksmith Chris Hubbard, a Glidden Homestead patch, barbed wire cap, and historical books and DVDs.
The Homestead is an emerging museum dedicated to preserving the house and barn on the site. Future plans include the addition of a Welcome/Innovation Center and restoration of the barn as a museum space.
For more information about the Holiday Open House Nov. 22, or Glidden Homestead, visit www.gliddenhomestead.org or call 815-756-7904.
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