The town of Welsh has two major milestones coming up in 2023: the 30th anniversary of the Friends of the Welsh Museum and the 135th anniversary of the signing of the town’s charter.

To mark the occasions, the Friends of the Welsh Museum will host special events during the next two years.

“Over the next two or three years, we will be hosting a series of receptions and other events honoring groups of citizens and their descendants who contributed to the development, growth and welfare of the town of Welsh and the Welsh Museum,” Museum President Mary Sue Lyon said.

The celebration will kickoff at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14 with a wine and cheese social honoring founders, board members, past and present volunteers and workers, and others who have expressed an interest in helping to preserve the town’s rich history and heritage over the last three decades. The event will include a display of hats, tea and chocolate pots and cups and a silent auction featuring local items.

The 135th anniversary of the signing of the town’s charter will be celebrated in March by honoring the town’s founders, along with past and present elected officials.

Area clergy, educators, farmers and cattlemen, local business owners, veterans, artists and musicians, children and others are among those slated to be honored in future celebrations which include a crawfish supper fundraiser, children’s art program, a Louisiana prairie supper, flag retirement ceremony and a Taste and Sell.

“Our mission has always been to preserve the history and heritage of the town of Welsh,” Friends of the Welsh Museum member Karen Trahan said, adding that the museum has continued to expand its collection over the past three decades.

The origin of the museum began in 1993 when Lyon, Paul Guillory, Carson Watkins, Gretchen Bonnin, Mike Grunder, Jim Wright, Cora Mae Vital, Keith Daniel, Phil Preston and Rick Arceneaux formed the Friends of the Welsh Museum. The group was initially formed to help save the old Welsh gym which was about to be sold for demolition.

“This was earth shattering,” Lyon said. “We knew something had to be done, so we went back and bid $1,000 more than the other person so that we could get it.”

Guillory, Lyon, Watkins and Anne Monlezun came up with enough funds to overbid another offer to buy the gym for $17,000 in August 1993. By the end of September 1994 the Friends of the Welsh Museum had raised funds from donations and fundraisers to pay the American Bank for the loan to purchase the gym. Within a year, the group made the final payment for the gym.

The group set up temporary headquarters in an old boat building at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Elm Street.

In 1996, the group rented a building on South Elm Street from Lo-Lift Pump Company to open the museum. The museum opened on Labor Day and remained at the location until February 2011 with volunteers hosting the displays, receptions, meetings and other events for nearly 15 years.

“There were also a lot of fundraising events,” Lyons said. “We had a circus, comedy act, Italian dinners and crawfish dinners. Everything was done by volunteers and everything was donated.”

In 2003 current mayor Karl Arceneaux purchased the Welsh gym from the group for $17,500 and the gym was renovated into apartments.

The museum was forced to move from the Elm Street building after termites were discovered In 2010. It was moved to its current location in the old Welsh Veterans of Foreign Wars building on East South Street.

“We moved the entire collection in February 2011 and the building was renovated in time for a grand opening later that fall,” Lyon said. “The official ribbon cutting was held the following January (2012).”

The VFW later donated the building to the museum, along with a $3,000 donation.

“It’s really amazing the people that come in,” Lyon said. “They are so amazed and think it is wonderful that we have preserved the history of the town.”

Most of the items, donated or on loan from local residents and their families, attempt to recapture and preserve the town’s history.

Among the most noted exhibits is a display of arrowheads and pieces of Native American pottery from Jeff Davis Parish on loan from the family of Jack Bonnin and one honoring Father Jules O. Daigle, a local Catholic priest who created the first Cajun dictionary.

The military also plays a vital role in the museum’s exhibits, which includes more than 250 photographs of local veterans, military uniforms, medals and other military memorabilia. Other exhibits recognize the town’s most notable residents including two-time Olympian Rolland Romero, Donald “Charley” Gillett, a local soldier killed during Vietnam and Cajun fiddler Canray Fontenot and others.

Special sections also highlight historical events and milestones including the local cattle and agriculture industry and the great fire of 1910 which destroyed downtown Welsh. Other exhibits pay homage to local authors, area churches, local schools, early businesses and more.

World War II veteran Delton Menard designated and constructed an exhibit highlighting the events in his military life. Marylee Obert has donated numerous items from her mother, Mary Louise O’Grady’s life to show.

Exhibits also showcase other collections including antique farm equipment , dolls, religious relics, furnishings from historic homes, old newspapers, books and other artifacts from the town’s history.

Visitors to the museum can also listen to an oral history of the town as elders and veterans share their memories.

An additional room has been added, called the Cajun and African-American Room, which features exhibits of local personalities and the African-American community. The museum also hosts an annual quilt exhibit in the spring which has drawn many visitors.

The Friends of the Welsh have also undertaken renovations of the old Welsh home economics cottage which was donated to the group in 2013 by Dwight and Francis Winstead. Plans are to restore the 1938 building and create the Hazel Benoit Art Center.

n

The Welsh Museum is open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. No admission. For more information contact Mary Sue Lyon at 337-370-9857