A forty some year marriage occasionally needs some spicing up, so Mike and I took to the streets of Bonners Ferry one Friday night looking for excitement. The Rod Benders provided the first bit of entertainment, cruising the gut in '57 Chevrolets, creamy pick-ups, and roaring hot rods. We stepped into Jill's Cafe for a fine bite to eat and exchanged expanded stories with a retired lineman. The night was young, as we strolled Main Street, first one side then the other, poking our heads in open doors of the eclectic collection of Main Street businesses. Pushing forth to the north end of Main we lined up with others to purchase tickets for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. The aroma of fresh buttered popcorn filled the air as we settled into our seats. After the movie we topped off the evening with ice cream cones at the newest night spot. Bright lights and music, waitresses dressed up, awaiting Elvis. Main Street was bustling on Friday night. Had we stepped back to the fifties or ahead to our future? One thing for sure… it was swell.

Viewing the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian was for market and exhibit research for our own Boundary County Museum. Granted your community museum does not possess the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, or an evil pharaoh or Archie Bunker's chair. Nor do we have the staff or resources to produce the fantasy computer animated sequences which transformed the 1903 Wright Flyer into a trick-turning aerial acrobat. Our staff and volunteers bear little resemblance to Ben Stiller and Amy Adams. Serendipitously, when I returned home I picked up the most recent issue of the Smithsonian Magazine which includes an article, Behind the Scenes at Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Settling under the covers, the last paragraph I read before drifting to sleep was from an interview with Amy Adams "Interviewer: In the film, artifacts and historical figures come to life. Is there any magic to be found in a real museum? Amy: Oh, yeah. The beauty of museums is that when you're in them and take the time to really look at the exhibits, they come to life in your imagination. That is the magic."

In my dream, I hovered overhead, inside the Boundary County Museum….at night, when "THEY" come alive, the real Boundary County Historical Society. Dr. Fry is delivering a new born baby and placing it in the wooden incubator. Mary Hawkins is serving scones and tea Southern Style to the delight of a group of young students. David Thompson and Kootenai Chief Uglyhead are sharing moss bread, dried carp and fresh venison over an open fire. Earl Cook is in his rocker, listening to music flowing from his Edison player. An anonymous woman is baking bread and preparing dinner on an old cook stove. Another is tearing strips of cloth to weave a rug. Muscular, sweaty men bring logs to the mill, while others harvest the grain. Renne Wickstrom prepares the prescriptions while Loretta Lynch teaches first grade. The church bells ring and the Kootenai Valley Railroad steam engine replies across the valley. It is June and the mighty Kootenai River is on the loose, overfilling its banks. Everyone stops to fill sandbags and pray to keep the river at bay. The basements of buildings downtown, first smell, dampen and then overflow. Crates and bottles bob in the water, Main Street is a canal, the Kootenai canoe navigates between cabinets, dolls leap from shelves, rescued. Nurse Agnes Chadwick gathers bandages, the Porthill postmistress collects the mail. The White Caribou throws his head and leads the charge to "Higher Ground!" Sturgeon and burbot takeover the town as floodwater reaches the second floors. Finally, Elmer Smith's three hundred elephants break loose from their glass cabinet and save the day. Then I woke up. In the predawn light I finished reading the last paragraph of the Smithsonian article, "National Museum of American History curator of entertainment Dwight Blocker Bowers is both amused and horrified by the very idea of iconic artifacts-even reproductions of iconic artifacts-piled in a heap. But, like the other curators, he hopes the film will stimulate public interest in the Smithsonian and other museums. And just possibly, he adds, "show that we have a sense of humor."

The dream of visiting the Smithsonian will come true in 2010 when the Smithsonian will come to the Boundary County Museum with a Museum on Main Street exhibit called Journey Stories. The Boundary County Historical Society Museum has been selected by the Idaho Humanities Council as the first of six sites in Idaho to sponsor the exhibit developed by the Smithsonian. The exhibit will run from May 28-July 10, 2010. This will be a supplementary exhibit of Boundary County Journey Stories, as well as programs for all ages, book readings and film festivals. We are looking for the Journey stories of past and present Boundary County residents.

Please contact the museum or visit us at 7229 Main Street.

Summer hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-4