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CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings to host Tunica Museum

January 4, 2005 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


The Memphis RiverKings will feature the Tunica Museum as the non-profit organization of the night on Thursday, Jan. 6 when the 'Kings face their arch-rivals, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs at 7:05 p.m.

"When the casinos arrived there were a lot of changes happening at a fast pace," staff member Kay Newman said. "Five concerned citizens saw the need to preserve the rich history of the area and saw the Tunica Museum as the answer.

"The residents of Tunica and the surrounding area have been very supportive, donating and loaning a number of unique items currently on display. In addition, the museum hosts traveling exhibits from various venues.

"We provide this with no admission to the public. The original board members wanted to avoid having an admission fee to make the museum accessible and available to everyone. This is a plus for schools planning field trips for their students as well as individuals who might want to break their visit into several trips."

Visitors to the museum begin their "trip through time in Tunica" with the Hardwood Forest exhibit, which represents the area before the arrival of European settlers, before continuing into the Native American exhibit. This exhibit starts with the Paleo-Indians and Archaic period progressing through the Woodland and up to the Mississippian Chickasaw and Choctaw period. The museum has on loan has several effigy pots, ceremonial vessels usually in animal form, as well as a number of other Native American vessels, tools, weapons, jewelry and game pieces.

In the Hernando DeSoto area, children can try on the heavy headgear and imagine how uncomfortable it must have been. The Commissary exhibit is stocked with items from the plantation period. Up until the late 1940's, when the Delta was ruled by agriculture, the farms and plantations usually had their own commissary and church.

The Juke House and Blues exhibit has a New Year's Eve party invitation from 1927 during Prohibition. The invitation is on loan from the Horseshoe Casino and shouldn't exist—the invitee was instructed to detach the VIP card, memorize directions to the party and then rip it up, to avoid any "unpleasantries" such as a raid.

The museum would not be complete without space dedicated to the arrival of the casinos and the impact the gaming industry has had on the area.

The museum recently hosted an exhibit of work by children's author/illustrator, Frank Remkiewicz. In conjunction with this exhibit museum staff visited local schools to facilitate reading programs for students in kindergarten through fourth grade. The museum also donated books to each class.

NIA will be the next traveling exhibit opening January 14, 2005. NIA is a group of young artists from Memphis. They took their name, NIA, from a Swahili word meaning "with purpose." This exhibit will be on display until Feb. 28 and will be followed by "The Artists Link" opening on March 4. The next scheduled exhibit is the Smithsonian exhibit "Picturing the Century," which will open April 30.

And last but certainly not least is Sally—the only stuffed mule on display east of the Rockies. Sally lived to the ripe old age of nineteen before dying of natural causes. Since her placement in the museum, she has become a favorite, even having pictures taken with bridal parties who had their weddings at the museum.

"We are trying to present Tunica as it was, is and will be," Newman said.

For more information on the Tunica Museum visit their table on the concourse of the DeSoto Civic Center during the RiverKings game on Jan. 6, call the museum offices at 662-363-6631 or visit the Web at www.tunicamuseum.com.



Central Hockey League Stories from January 4, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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