one, two, 34.

Get my shoes on at the door.

I'm Lapchick.

seven They feel great.

I'm gonna shine after I do it, I'm gonna do it.

But do they get a look at this guy with the beautiful color about the weather?

Just for me to not share it with another?

I got to show to give that out singing show.

I'll take a look and say a beautiful harmony that's earned your beautiful, easy and together make beautiful light.

And that's you wanna see the come along with me?

That's right.

Welcome to experience Michigan.

We are definitely in the holiday spirit here, and we hope that you are too We're so excited to share with you this week's episodes in that right.

That's right, Courtney.

And this week I had a chance to chat with Julie from the Elkhart County Historical Museum about E c history in 60 .

This is something very cool that they started on YouTube, and I can't wait to show you, but we've got lots more, right?

Yes, we do today because this is also the time of the year that if people did not put up their Christmas tree yet, like Courteney and I and Dave, did you get yours?

I hope so.

But if not, you get to go out and cut down your own Christmas tree.

Courtney and I had a chance to do that last year and different parts of the community.

And so we're going to take a look back at that.

Courtney, it was tons of fun, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was so much fun.

And I think we even had a huge snowstorm that happened right as we were pulling out.

So we were chopping a tree down in the snow.

It was a ton of fun.

But, you know, to get started.

Kelly and I were able to visit a locally owned business in Benton Harbor called the Christmas Tree, and you can imagine how excited we both were.

Check it out.

Today we're at the Christmas tree shop and we're in Benton Harbor, and we know that you've heard about a partridge in a pear tree, but today we're going to find out all about the Red Christmas Goose.

And we're here today with Madeline and your beautiful daughter, Kathleen.

And it's a story really about a Christmas legacy, Madeleine, that all started with your mom And here's a picture of your mom.

So tell us because she came up with the Red Goose She did, actually.

And it was a time frame after my after my dad passed away and I quit my job to spend time with mom .

And so you can only eat so many cookies, make so many coffee, so much coffee.

And she said, we need to find something to do.

And I said, OK, that's your job to think of it.

So she said we could make something and we could sell it at maybe the Christmas like holiday market at Krisel.

Okay.

And I can't remember the name of the other place that we went for as well, wasn't it Fernwood?

It was Fernwood.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yeah, we did.

So we went to the fabric store and our mom picked up two.

By the way, she always made our clothes.

We always we always had the nicest things to wear because she made them.

And she was very creative.

Oh yeah.

And on her old turtle sewing machine?

Oh my goodness.

And so she made this beautiful red Christmas goose.

Yeah.

And she sold it.

And that's kind of where the whole Christmas tree started to to spark and grow.

It did.

Yeah, it really did.

We had a gaggle of geese, a gaggle of bees.

And so you started, was it in the basement, in the basement of my grandmother's house?

And we were doing gift a little place bankcard things for my sister's business in Detroit, Michigan.

And so that started there and lots of potpourri and a lot of smelling goods for Christmas And it just kept going from there.

OK, so it began to grow and then I'm sure you couldn't stay in the basement too much longer.

So where did you go after that?

We rented a place over behind us the way over here and it was available and we said, You know what?

We can't do everything here at Mom's House, so we checked it out and it was something that we could do with it.

We knew we couldn't afford to go downtown and rent, you know, something there.

But this was perfect because it was right on the highway.

Yes.

And as soon as we put our sign out in the window, we were putting stock in the store and all of a sudden I looked up and there were people peeking in the window to see what we were doing because they saw the sign up.

And it was just it was just great fun and it's just been successful.

No matter what size we were, we were there in that little place which is still there.

And then then this this part of the store became available and we came over to see who bought it right away and we said, OK. Let's make the plans and really what the reason why you're doing what you're doing is because you saw a real need in this community for a place like this, absolutely not anything like it anywhere.

And people come from all over, even from Chicago.

And even they say, Wow, there is nothing like this.

Even in Chicago, Chicago, Indianapolis, we've had folks in from Ohio.

We've had people and from the U.P.

of Michigan.

We have a large base of people that like to come in to see us.

And you also have a large base of items from gnomes to Christmas gifts, a gaggle of geese and so many ornaments.

And Courtney is going to take us along and show us a lot of the beautiful items that you can purchase here.

But before we do that, can I just hold the Red Cross?

And and I was going, Oh my gosh, she feels so good in your hands.

Doesn't seem so balanced that it and a partridge in a pear tree.

What I love about boutique Christmas stores is that you can find the most unique finds like snowball life.

I mean, who would have thought of that?

That's amazing.

I obviously collect a lot of Christmas trees in nutcrackers.

That's another super popular thing this year.

But what I've been eyeing at these beautiful balls, take a look at these.

I have the perfect tree to add to these, and another one that I added this year was a gnome tree.

And here at the Christmas tree, well, they certainly have a lot of gnomes.

Check these out.

These are amazing.

Kathleen, and I love your gnome section here.

This is so awesome and a lot of people love gnomes this year and have been.

Gnomes have been very big for the last couple of years, and we have some really cute ones, like my little buddy here now.

He looks a little.

He's little, but he does grow.

He grows.

OK, I see you turn them around and stand on his toes because otherwise he doesn't come up.

Oh my goodness, that's taller than her Adobe.

That's a nickname.

And do you guys have a local person who makes these are, you know, we get this from a company and we sold like seven of him to this yea so far.

So he's very popular because of his size.

It's such a creative ideas and concepts, and then it goes down so you can just move him about wherever you want and there and they come in different sizes, too.

This one's an expandable one.

Also double that, and of course, you have to stand on our little toes to get him to come up.

OK That's the trick.

That's the trick.

Look at that.

And so we have another one.

I love that.

I love that in all different shapes and sizes, little ones that are on skis, snowshoes, shoes, which are very dynamic.

I saw snow shoes.

Uh-Huh.

And then we have some that are on little toboggans.

And here's a cute one here sledding right down the hill.

And these are just such unique finds.

How do you go about finding these to put in your store?

What's that process like for each year?

We searched the catalogs and try to find things that you don't see everywhere else Mm-Hmm.

And that's kind of a hard thing to do because there's so much in the catalogs from all the companies that we have.

But mom and dad, can't they just seem to be able to pick out the things that everybody loves?

They have a great eye for those who they really do.

That's awesome.

And I know you do have a lot of things that are locally made, especially your food area, which I was checking out to and we got to go to the food.

OK, let's go.

Let's go, let's go.

I was so excited.

Now there's so much around here.

You have different sections.

There's a baby section, but this is the food section and this is amazing.

And so much of it is locally sourced from Michigan locations too, right?

Yes, it is.

We try to support all the local Michigan growers.

We have made Michigan mince with the state of Michigan and Boston, and they're very good and they came out with a new one, a chocolate cherry.

It's just like a chocolate covered cherry without all the goo.

And you were talking about this cherry pancakes.

This is another made Michigan product that is wonderful.

It's the cherry pancakes.

You just add your water to it.

We recommend adding another little package of dried cherries.

OK.

I couldn't respond.

They didn't have enough cherries, and I like cherries.

And then we also have the cherry sirup that goes with it.

And you put that together, put a little whipped cream on top, and it's delicious and you have you have the hot cocoa balance, which I feel like it's been a really hot item this year.

Lots of people I've seen asking, Where can I get cocoa bombs?

They're great for gift giving.

They're great for anything or anything for yourself at home.

We are in three different sizes, too.

We have them in the mug that she has all gift wrapped up for us.

It's by a local lady.

She makes this.

She's local and she sells to us and one other place in Saugatuck.

So, so very localized.

And we try to support our local artists and our food vendors and such.

We have it in the cups.

We also have it in the boxes, and we also have a bagged in a cute little thing.

This is a place where you can get your hot cocoa bottoms.

What I love, too, I notice there's lots of baskets around here, but people can kind of put their own gift baskets together and you can help with that.

Yes, we can.

And we can even gift wrapped.

But then we sell.

Wrap them up with a pretty red bow on everything and they can see what's in the basket, but some things might be wrapped so secretive I love that you kind of put it all together and piece together.

So, you know, I feel like there's a lot of times when I look at a gift basket, but I'm like, Oh, I don't like half of those things in there, but here you can really personalize it for each person to.

And we can, even on certain ornaments, put names on things.

So if you want to purchase an ornament to put in your gift basket, we can put the person's name on it in the year and everything else.

I love that and you were talking about the cash you weren't killing on this ranch.

This is a really popular item for you guys, right?

Yes, we can't keep this in stock at melt in your mouth.

I did have a piece in it and it's made by the Amish people and we only get it in us in the wintertim because it's made with so much butter and it doesn't last in the heat .

So this is a really good gift idea.

It's under $10 and it makes a nice gift for folks.

That's a wonderful comes wrapped or unwrapped all of these great food ideas.

I know there's so much more here for us to look at.

See some peppermint crunch over here.

Yes, it's made by the Columbine lady, she says also, and they come in little Christmas trees and chocolate covered peanuts and dips and mustard.

So many goodies in here.

I am now hungry, very hungry for Christmas.

Well, we have to find a snack and harassment.

I will.

All right.

Well, let's go.

Check out some more things.

OK, let's go to the author now.

Marion, you've worked here for a while and you are a retired teacher.

Yes.

And the books are your thing here.

Yes, this is great.

And this is also tell us a bit more about this book.

This is kind of a unique thing.

Yes, this is a local artist.

She lives in Benton Harbor.

And she was here a couple of Fridays, a goal to autograph and talk to people about her book.

OK, and she's coming back on, let's see, December 18th.

OK, I'm eleven to two.

So she authored this book and this is Eleanor is very Merry Christmas, which, you know, I have a niece named Eleanor.

This would be a perfect gift for her perfect guest.

Oh, how wonderful.

And she has different.

She has a you can just buy the book.

She has a little kid, and then she has a package of different of games.

I know you guys have games here, too.

one of the other books that I saw is, are these books?

Yeah, these are amazing.

These are very special.

I don't know if you can zoom in on these.

Tell us about these books.

These are books that as you as you raise and lower, they move.

And then what they have is up here tells you a little bit about a shark.

But the amazing thing of this, we not only sell it to children, but we've had adults.

Oh, I bet.

And put them on our coffee table.

Deep ocean.

The safari one was so cool.

Can you see that they're going to move?

That's a matter is a technique.

You can barely keep these in stock, so you got to get these before Christmas commercial.

So we've had second shot, you know, second order.

And this is more books here and you have Christmas books all year long, but this is really the time now to get these.

Yes, they're, you know, not indestructible until you get them to my kids right now.

And then this is kind of a unique situation.

There are books, but they're also musical.

Welcome to the symphony.

And if you push the number like seven, it'll make the sound of the instrument that I just booked.

And this year, the Jazz one is new.

OK, if someone is playing an instrument, this is really good.

And then we have this just learning those new sounds and stuff like that to paint by sticker.

Oh, kids, kids love stickers.

Yes, they do numbers and then those stickers are in the back so they can actually put them on.

Yeah, so it helps them with their numbers.

We have to find that changes in the shape.

Yes.

Oh, those are amazing.

There is so much here and you even have one with.

Now this is horse crazy a lot with projects and games and all kinds of things that they can do.

Look at that.

Those are our favorite kind of books, the ones that usually go more unusual things for children you don't see very unique finds.

Yes.

Now over here are the games.

And these aren't games that you see just, you know, on the regular shelf at a local store like this.

These are very unique finds.

Well, thank you so much for showing us right now.

There's so much to see and do, but I don't want to spoil it for all of you.

So you have to come here to the Christmas tree and we're in Benton Harbor and I hope that you'll come make a visit because there's plenty more to explore.

We only got to a little bit every day.

We're getting in more and more things.

Great things have been slow.

Yeah.

OK, well, thank you.

I'm joined right now by Julie is from the Elkhart County Historical Museum.

Now from the entire museum.

What do you think people would be most interested in finding out about Elkhart's history?

You know, we have just spent about three or four years reimagining our introductory galleries.

We found that people who were coming here had a lot of historic objects that they could see on exhibit, but they weren't really going away with a good understanding of the basic story of Elkhart County.

So we went through a long process to change our three first floor galleries into an introductory exhibit, which we called Crossroads of Elkhart County, and we start with the earliest people who followed their food through here.

The paleo people and people are surprised to know that there were mammoth and mastodon here, and the people who were nomadic were We're hunting here.

We have some paleo era points in our collection, so we know they came through this general area.

People are surprised to learn about the fur trade and the connections between the native cultures and the French people Learn more about the impact of the railroad when they come here and things like.

Migration patterns that were driven by the opportunities the railroad presented and the rise in manufacturing.

For instance, we were a destination for African-American people who were moving north out of the agricultural south during what was called the Great Migration.

We also give people a kind of a glimpse into the understanding of the Anabaptist culture.

The.

This story of migration is so rich and diverse and includes Latin people, African-American people, Europeans, people who were second generation migrants who were in Ohio and moved here.

So learning about how this area was populated, I think is the most interesting to people We really strive here at the museum to make history be about people.

And, you know, when we think about the Lerner Theater and the history of the Lerner Theater specifically, I mean, Elkhart Card was a big entertainment stop for a lot of people on journeys on the railroad as well.

Right?

You know, that's true.

And in fact, we have a little diary of a young woman who during the time she was writing her diary, she transitioned from being a student to being a very young teacher.

But she tells in her diary this funny story about when the circus came to Elkhart and someone in her family had to stay behind and take care of, I think, a sick relative.

And so she had to stay behind, and she didn't get to go to Elkhart to see the circus which came in on the railroad.

I always find that interesting.

Did she ever get to go see it somewhere else?

What kind of tension did that create with the other relatives?

Because they got to go and she martyred herself to stay back and I don't know, watched the baby or the dog or something.

So it it.

The trains were critical to the development of of industry, but also access to the broader world and entertainment and entertainers, and even just jumping on the train and running over to Chicago.

There were great opportunities that the train provided.

And, of course, Elkhart County, you know, it's not just Elkhart or Bristol Goshen in itself.

I mean, people from Goshen and people from Elkhart City itself, they feel like obviously they have a lot in common, but they also have histories that are very unique as well.

Yes, that's true.

And one thing that we try to do here is bring in those stories that represent the broad spectrum of the county.

So we have spent the last year on a photo collecting initiatives to try to collect images for our collection from underrepresented communities like Millersburg or a four acre towns that maybe we don't have very many photos because those stories are different for each part of the county and for each township.

And they're often so well represented in the historic imagery, and in fact, that historic imagery is a rich part of our museum collection.

Absolutely, and you know, as you mentioned as well, you're in Bristol, which for a lot of people is easy to get two of their on the toll road or if they're not, it's easy to get to as well from everywhere.

And Bristol is one of those places that I think people imagine as far away.

But really, you know, it's just a couple of minutes, really 1015 minutes from downtown Al-Ittihad, for example.

Like, it's not that far away.

But if people want to come along and experience the museum, when can they do so?

When are you guys open?

So the museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We have pretty broad hours.

Now we are closed on major holidays, but by our general hours, our Tuesday through Saturday from nine to five.

And tell me a little bit about the history, the Elkhart County history in 60.

What exactly is that?

OK, great.

I'm glad to get a chance to talk about this because we like all of our cultural partners and arts and organizations that provide in-person content over the last year and a half have had to adapt to the restrictions of the pandemic.

So in March of 2020, we looked at what we were doing and what we were not able to do with the museum closed and started developing online programing videos, Facebook Live Tours programs where you could join through Google Meet and hear a lecture, things like that.

And we had a lot of fun with it.

And over that time.

Patrick Maguire, who's our curator of education, was really helping us raise the bar on our production quality.

We started with no real skills in video editing or production.

We just threw ourselves into it and he kept saying, OK, we can do better.

We can do better.

Let's try this.

Let's do better.

So then this summer, he came up with a really great idea to push out content that was in bite sized pieces.

So the history of 60.

And the subtitle for that is bringing you history as fast as we can.

And so he takes a topic and condenses it into one minute little lesson.

And every two weeks on Friday, we put out a new video, and Patrick McGuire really drives that process.

It comes up with the topics.

We talk about them as a team ideas for topics, but that he then uses the resources in the struggle library and in the photo collection and tells a quick story of history from across the county.

Well, Julie, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us on W and you talk about those videos.

I think we should have a look at some of them.

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of history in 60, where we are featuring Misha TO1 gay and how Elkhart County got its name.

The stories around how the city of Elkhart and Elkhart County got their names have included the idea that the island where the Elkhart Center each of the rivers meet resembles the heart of another, or that there was a native figure known as chief.

Both of these stories are met, but have been ingrained in our community' collective memory.

The authentic story is the history of town.

The history is much more in packable and traces its history back to the origins of the Miami culture.

According to their own history, the Miami Traverse Lake Michigan explored the St Joseph River and, in their own words, came out of the water forming their own culture and starting a village at present.

So as the population of the village grew, a group broke off and headed east, establishing the village.

A mission to housing at the confluence of the St Joseph and al-Kurd passed down through generations of Miami people and recorded in the 1820 trophy.

The first group to establish Nishad Typekit building up and a woman hung its heart on a tree when it was stolen.

The woman was overcome by emotion, but the story connected to this area and the village and river took its name Misha Typekit, which translates to Alker, giving the area the name it has had ever since.

That is their easy history in the world.

Hensel or nursery farms today, and I know you guys have heard of the Polar Express, but forget that what we have here.

The Handsomer Express.

The nice thing about having a real tree when you take that home, it's going to be different from every other tree that you had.

Yeah, it's not.

It's not one of those manufactured trees.

It's something that in the case of this tree grown locally on this site, you're going to cut it.

It's going to be fresh and totally unique from every tree that you're going to have from now on.

Yes, it will be different.

Absolutely.

There is nothing like a real tree.

And can I just tell you my kids and I will actually name our tree?

And so we've had Kristen, we've have no well, so I don't know what this name will be, but we will definitely name her.

She's beautiful.

I'm ready to cut it down now.

Do you think I can do it myself?

What do you think?

You're welcome to try.

I'll hold some branches up if you want to.

Oh, right down here.

All right.

Oh my gosh, guys.

Can you see this?

I'm OK.

I'm not doing too bad.

Oh my gosh, I'm shocked.

I didn't know I could do this, so we got it down.

What's next?

John Kelly?

Your tree has been fresh cut from a field.

It's been shaken.

It's wrapped and ready to load.

Well, thank you so much.

My goodness, I didn't realize how tall she was in the name of your favorite tree is sparkle Sparkle.

Sparkle is her name and joy.

Sparkle.

Merry Christmas Carol.

Merry Christmas to you.

I am a pro at this.

I do this every year.

All right.

Usually have my team of helpers, but they're at school today.

So am I doing this right now?

But does it matter where you start sawing it out?

Yeah, we always want you to cut as close as possible.

Well, you know, that's pretty good.

Yeah.

Wow.

There you go.

Timber, you.

All right.

We'll take it down there and we will get all the dead needles shipped out of it, that's what we do for every tree and all the snow.

And then, yeah, it'll help get that out there too.

And then we'll wrap it up to show you how we do that for taking it home.

Awesome.

I'm so excited.

Good.

You know, we chopped our tree down, and now it's time to warm up.

I got my free hot chocolate to go in Harper's warming up my feet very nicely for me.

But this is a great way.

If you haven't already started your family tradition with Pine Crest Christmas Tree Farms, now's the time to do it.

So head on out here to glean Michigan where you can warm up with some hot chocolate, grab some ornaments for your tree and have a good time.

There is nothing like getting out and cutting down your own Christmas tree, and I love a real tree in the house.

It makes the whole house smell like Christmas.

But if you're still looking to do that, just be sure to check on it because some places there are already sold out of Christmas trees or you can't get in there and cut down your roll, you have to get a precut one.

But who cares?

The most important thing is that you have a Christmas tree in the house that's really good to know.

I know we've chopped a tree down, and it was very slim pickings this year, so make sure you maybe check out their websites or give them a phone call before you head out to any of those local Christmas stores.

But you know, we also talk about music in the holiday season, and next week is our musical show I'm so excited for that to kind of showcase our local Michigan a talent.

It's going to be absolutely wonderful.

And you know what?

I hear that we're going to have some surprise singers on next week's show as well, which I'm excited about, but you're going to have to tune in to actually see who those surprise singers are going to be.

We are so excited to bring you the beautiful sounds of holiday music right into your own home.

And it all starts next week, and my dad said, I think they're going to be some surprising is as well as many talented singers from the community, so be sure to join us on the next experience Missy Elliot With tons of holiday music experience, Machina is made possible in part by the Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County and the Indiana Arts Commission, which received support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.