Welcome to Monmouth monthly, a peek into the heart of the Willamette Valley. Each month we will bring you updates of the things happening in and around town, brought to you by the people who help make it happen. I am your host. Sabra Jewell,
so this episode of Monmouth monthly is a dedication to all things volunteered. It's a national month of recognition. It's National Volunteer Appreciation Month, and there is nobody that we appreciate more than the folks who put their ideas to paper and pen and then put that passion to action, and those are the volunteers that we have on our boards and commissions, and we have been incredibly lucky at the city of Monmouth to celebrate volunteers who have over 40 years of service with some of our boards and commissions, including Parks and Recreation. You know, before we get into our episode, I did want to make sure to mention in the city of Monmouth, we lost some giants this year, folks that will leave an imprint in our city, in our policy and in our hearts and minds. And I just wanted to make sure that we took time to mention and honor some of the folks that not only were volunteers, board of commission leaders, but also city employees who indelibly made a mark on all of us. And those folks are Fran Costco, George White, Scott Campbell and Judge Bill Horner. Want their families to know how much we appreciate the time that they were able to spend with all of us and that they shared those folks with us, their time and their talent, and we will always be grateful for that. So thank you to those folks. Thank you so much to all of our listeners, and hope you enjoy this episode dedicated to all things volunteerism and Monmouth. And welcome back to another episode of Monmouth monthly. And we are celebrating April's volunteer Appreciation Month, and it is my pleasure this month to have three guests in the studio, two of which are volunteers on our board and commissions, and one of which is a person who works at our library with our volunteers. So we're going to talk a little bit about, you know, the volunteers in this community are what makes this community special. It's what keeps things going. There's not enough staff to do half the cool things that happen here. So I'm looking around the podcast studio at three people who I know have made some pretty incredible moments happen in this community. So welcoming today. Sharon Oberst, Melody, Barrett and Dina Jones, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you. Good to be here.
We are so glad to have y'all I you know what? I think I'm going to start with Sharon and Melody now, Sharon and Melody are both now. Melody, you are the chair of the arts and culture commission.
Yes, that's right, all right.
And Sharon, you have been part of the arts and culture commission, both of you since 2021 do you hold a certain role or responsibility within the commission?
I am the secretary.
Okay, so you keep up with all the minutes and make sure they stay compliant.
Yes, phenomenally, yes.
Okay, that's good to know.I'm gonna ask you a little bit about yourselves. Melody, tell us about yourself.
I'm Pacific Northwest native, born and raised in Spokane, Washington. I ended up in Monmouth because I was living in Alaska, wanted to go back and get my BA degree, and Western Oregon University was what struck me. I'd come down and visited the campus. The area was beautiful, and I like being a little bit more rural. And so I moved down in 2019 started school January, 2020 and
I think I moved here around the same time. It's very interesting to get to know a town during a pandemic, isn't it? Is there anything, any places that you found during that time while the world was shut down, any special places that still remain special to you that you found?
You know, the campus was a big part of my, of my life. At that point in time, I had a dog, and so we were going on walks and playing ball in the fields. Yeah, that was the that was the biggest thing. And just, there's a peacefulness. There wasn't a lot of busyness going on. In some ways, it was really, it was really lovely just being able to have that space. And yeah, and
so you said you got your degree as a bachelor in arts. Is that what you said? It's
actually an interdisciplinary degree, because I had a lot of credits already with sign language and deaf education studies and Deaf Studies, and that's actually where I thought I was going to go with my degree. Yeah, art kind of took over, and I was able to do the interdisciplinary program, which I absolutely love, because I've got multiple passions as it is, so yeah, that's what I've got it in my focus areas of art and ASL and Deaf Studies.
Very, very cool. Okay, Sharon, tell us a little about your you and how you you've been here for a little while yourself, right?
I have, I came to Oregon originally to go to graduate school at the University of Oregon, and then got a job teaching at Western Oregon, and I, I. Taught dance for 32 years in the theater and dance program, and I also directed and choreographed a lot of the musicals. So performing arts is more my background versus Melody's visual arts background. I'm retired now, so I teach occasional dance classes in the area, I still choreograph for local Shakespeare and musical theater productions, and then that gives me a little bit more time to volunteer to be on the Monmouth arts and culture commission. So you
come at art from two different perspectives of melody. What drew you to the arts and culture commission? How did you find out about it, and what made you interested in volunteering?
It was a little bit of a fluke, even though, like I say, we were, you know, offline, online for education, I had created some art pieces for that first term they did an online student show, and it just so happened that one of my pieces was purchased by the Monmouth arts and culture commission for their permanent art collection. So that's how I discovered it. Then my interest just grew from there, and yep,
is your piece, the one that's at the bottom of the staircase right now.
That is the piece that they that they originally purchased. That is my favorite piece of art in the building. I think there's many of us who feel that way. I believe it was our interim city manager's favorite piece as well. It's and that piece, I hope sticks around. It's it's right in the bottom floor, so anyone can have access to it. I hope folks will come by city hall and check it out. It is gorgeous. What's the name of that piece?
Well, that one is called ladies and waiting, and it's a collage. And, yeah, I actually did that for a class. And it's funny, the art everybody likes the most has been the stuff that's come the easiest to me. And that one was a lot of fun to create.
Well, it's a lot of fun to look at, so I very much appreciate having that in the building. Sharon, what brought you on board to the arts and culture commission?
Mayor Koontz called me and said, We need you on the commission. She knew that I had a background in arts administration and and you can ask melody, I I'm, I'm kind of bossy, and a kind of a parliamentarian in the group, try keeping, you know, trying to keep things moving forward. And she just called and said, Please apply. And so I did, and that
she does keep us on track. And it's fantastic, see. And that's what I was
gonna say. I bet Dina would, would hear that and appreciate some volunteers that have the high level of that See, there you go. Yeah. So no there, I think. And that's another thing to just reiterate that the work that we're going to be talking about, and all the fun things, not just the rotating art and the art that's in city hall that we're going to get to, but the tiny art show and the things that are in collaboration, these are volunteer driven activities. How much time and energy do you think a month on average, not when you're doing a tiny art show, where you're doing an art installation, but what does this take for the average volunteer of your month per
hour? It's hard to say, just because we have actually been doing a lot of setup, of a lot of the background programs, putting together a handbook, things like that that have taken up a lot more time than they would normally. And I don't know, I What do you think Sharon, if we're, you know, we're meeting for an hour a week or an hour a month with our our regular meeting, then maybe two or three hours on average for, I think
it depends on whether we're in the throes of a project, or if we're just editing things online and emailing one another. I think you put as many hours as you are able to contribute. And we take anybody you know who want to wants to help, and then those who are in leadership positions, like melody, she has put so many hours in writing the handbooks, and she's putting together the mural ordinance, and so I can't, I couldn't even count the hours that she's put in in the last three or four months. And the things that
melody is working on, these are things that are policy objectives, right? That handbook and that mural, these are things that are going to be presented to city council that we can set policy upon, right? That's pretty cool. It
really is. And it's stuff that I had no, no knowledge of, and actually in conversation with, like Paula booth, but, you know, I worked with her at Western, with the galleries. I had another connection to an individual who was on the Medford arts and culture commission down there, which I think has a different title, but I started learning about all these organizations, generally citywide, that already had these handbooks and policies and procedures set down, because we would have a lot of conversations in our meetings about, oh, how do we want to do this? How do we want to do this, looking forward. And then I, you know, as we went on, it's like, wait a minute, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. There's a lot of that's already been done. So we worked together to come up with different city examples of those policies and procedures and handbooks. And then we took those and then went through and said, Okay, what fits. City, what fits our city, what fits our city, and then created our own
from those. So what's in there, and why is it important to have
the arts and culture commission started? How many years ago? 227, part of how it started was the emeritus group from Western with Harold and Sue Mason. They purchased a piece of art for and then donated it to the city. In fact, it's in the library. It's the Beatles. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, really, that was the first one. We needed to have a policy around our permanent art collection. How are we handling the permanent art? You know, where is it being stored? Especially when we you know, have the new city hall. Can the public see it? Where is it? If you know, if it's not being shown, then where is it? You know, all of these things that we need to track as a city or City Commission, and so looking through that. And then if there's a piece that, for some reason, gets damaged or doesn't fit where we want to go with our art collection, we needed to have policies and procedures for not only new acquisitions, because we didn't happen to have those, but then de assessing those pieces and so and if we put out a call for art, is it going to be an open call? Is it going to be a closed call? Is it going to be a prospectus, all these different things that like I say, I mean, I've been learning them too. We just put together the handbook, so now we've got that guide that is a long term document. It's not going to need to be changed for the foreseeable future,
and we appreciate it again. Volunteers putting together something that creates policy to make it seamless for more people to participate in the process and make it to where there's equity around that that's that's incredibly appreciated, and it's a beautiful document. You can tell we had arts and arts and culture folks, of people with with good vision working on it. I was glad y'all created it, because I can honestly say it wouldn't have looked any it definitely wouldn't look better if I would have done it so arts and all of our boards and commissions, and we have several, have have some missions. Do you know what the mission is of our particular arts and culture commission, take it away. Sharon
the as Melody said, the Monmouth City Council established the we call it the Mac. We're trying to make it called the Mac because we okay. So trying to make it stick, because it's along with arts and culture commission, oh, I am all into this.
Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Tell me more about about Max mission and vision.
Well, the city council created this as as an ordinance, along with other boards and commissions in 2007 and they've believed that art and culture was important to the city, for a vital city, and it would also bring people to our city, and also businesses to the city. So it was kind of, that was what the vision was from the City Council when they created the commission, our primary role, as we see it, and we've been kind of, we've been having many conversations about this, is that we want to be the conduit between the community and arts organizations and other organizations like the library, when we do the tiny art show, the Historical Commission and the senior community center to the city council. And then, of course, we make recommendations about things that are going on, policy and so on. And then ultimately, we take it to the city council, and they make the final approvals of everything. We don't have great power. We just have great recommendations, right?
And the focus and the love of it, right? That goes a long way. Yeah, and we've
had wonderful people work on this commission from the very beginning, lot of great ideas. The things that we've been doing, as I just said, was, you know, working with the tawny art show, with the library. We are in the process right now of working on a AARP sponsored mural with the senior and Community Center participating. We were not, you know, the driving force, but we participated in the the lovely alley and the art that has been up, you know, been put up on the walls and everything there.
I love that alleyway. My office looks out on it, and I get to see people enjoying it all day. And it is such a special place all year round. So thank you for being a part of that space. Because it is, it is unbelievable. So got on out to Monmouth alley, and then, who knows. I mean, how many city halls have beautiful art displays like we have? Do we know about that?
You know, actually, that's where I got the idea for the right rotating art exhibition. Two, Well, two reasons for that. We do have a permanent art collection, but it is a Limited Collection, which is good because we have limited space. You know, the old city hall didn't have a lot of space, and the new city hall doesn't actually for all of our wall space. It's kind of limited on what we can put up. And, you know, looking into the future, how do we want to showcase our art? Well, a lot of that. Art. Well, while we've had it for quite a few years, a lot of people haven't seen it, and so our first exhibition that we put up in the downstairs area of the city hall was all of the art that the city has purchased over the years, which is about, I'd say, 15 or 20 pieces. One of the issues with that is, though they really focused, it's a good thing. They focused on the student art show from Western but what that also meant was it doesn't necessarily have a very cohesive flow to it. It's not necessarily esthetically similar, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can be really disjointed, too, when you see very different pieces of art side by side. So our thought was, let's go ahead and do this rotating art exhibition. And I know that Kaiser and Albany also do rotating exhibitions. And the neat thing about that is it gets to showcase local, you know, kind of Willamette Valley. We're not just limiting it to just Monmouth, because there's a lot of people that come in and enjoy Monmouth, and we want to celebrate them as well. But we get to showcase different artists, different styles, and it keeps the art fresh, so that our city hall workers and those that do visit the city hall on a regular basis, aren't staring at the same art every single day for years and years and years and years on it. And
I'll be in meetings in our council chambers and see folks coming in to do City Hall business, and take the time to walk down and they're looking at the art, and they're looking at the placards. So I know how much y'all put into it, just for the hours I saw you in the building, and just know it's being appreciated on a scale that I don't think we can quantify, right? I maybe we should start capturing some sort of, like a survey from folks about how they feel about it, because I would love for you all to be able to get the feedback that I'm seeing, and that's people really do appreciate it right now, in April, we have, and have had the art of Bruce Beltz, and he's a local artist, because, like both of these ladies mentioned, we are just, we are just just copious. I mean, so many artists in this community is doing so many different mediums. We could do just Monmouth artists and not run out of anybody, if we wanted to, for several years. But currently it's Bruce belt, and his art is just so colorful and so unique. And you know it when you see it, and the way that you've paired it and the way that you've placed it is so stunning that I do hope that people come and look at it, because it's breathtakingly beautiful. Melody. You did such a good job. Oh,
well, thank you. Well, Sharon actually helped me as well. Sharon and so did Bruce. I mean, hanging art is not necessarily just a one person job, especially with the larger pieces, and we put up the specific rail system that we have so that we can do the rotations easily. We're not having to nail into walls repeatedly. That was part of it. It makes it it makes it fun. It really does. I mean, I love installing art, so that's one of my, my joys. And yeah, we were running Bruce's. We put his up at the end of February, beginning of March. Our goal is to have that show space rotate four times a year. We started it at the end of 2000 or 24 so we're kind of a little bit off schedule. And I'm not going to tease you with names of upcoming people, because we need more confirmations. Looks like right now we have our we had put out a call for art. It's on the website. Looks like. We now have our full retinue of artists for 2025 so if somebody goes to it and happens to be closed and says, wait till 2026 please be patient. But we're looking we're looking into the future to keep focusing on Willamette Valley and Willamette Valley artists. Well,
we'll make sure to include in the show notes a link to the arts and culture commission, because we are going to try to create special website for this group that kind of links to this work that they're doing, so that we can not only keep the folks updated on when they can expect new art, but who these artists are, because so many of them have interesting back stories, and we would love to be able to share with you, especially those who we know and love and who are dear to us. So we do appreciate that. That's just one of your projects, right, right? You have many the tiny art show Sharon is is a gem of the community. Was that your brain child? Is that something that you came up with? I would love to take credit, but I can't. You can here on Monmouth monthly.
No, actually, this was spurred on by Krist Obrist, the director of the Monmouth Public Library, several years back. She wanted to have some kind of an art community art show at the library, and she said we they just didn't have enough staff to be able to do it, and she needed some help. And as we talked, the first year, we did an art show that was based on literature or art that was inspired by a book. Now that was pretty wide, because there are so many books in the library that can inspire art, and that was our first. One. And then the next year, Carrie kaspernick had the idea of the tiny art show. And I, we just all thought that was a great idea. And we thought, well, we can get so much more art in here if everything is five by five by five. And then she also came up with the idea of handing out some art, little art Canvas kits that would fit within that space. And so we started that, and the first year, which was last year with the tiny art show, was very successful. We got so much great feedback, and we decided to do it again this year, and we had, like was what 235% more art this year than we did the last year, and it's so well visited the people who come in and and they have a great time voting for their favorite art and then we have a nice reception at the end. And every year, you know, everyone says, Oh, we're doing it again next year. And so I think it has become an annual event now, and it's nice because it's in January when it's kind of raining outside, and gives us something fun to look forward to and and go to the library while it's raining and see the art of our community.
And the nice thing about that is, in this is, you know, it's primarily, it's sponsored by the library. It's a library event that we get to help with. And yes, I not sure about the exact numbers, but I think roughly about 60 participants, 60 pieces of art last year, and this year was like 140
pieces. It was, it was around 70 pieces the first year, and we had 144
pieces this year. So, and the great thing is, it's all age groups too. So and everybody can come and vote on which one they like the best. So it's People's Choice, and that makes it fun for the whole community.
It does, and it didn't like both these ladies mentioned it's inside. You come in, and they took great care to set up this room of the library. And Dana can attest to this, it looks like an art gallery, and it's perfect. So you take your ballot, and it's, it's broken up by age group, and you go through and you get to vote for your favorite. And then the awards banquet is really special, because you get to see people of all ages receive a little bit of, you know, praise and appreciation from their community for, you know, producing this incredible art. I remember, I think the young lady who won in the six year old category last year. We, I think five of us, tried to buy her piece of art. She wouldn't sell it to us. Yeah, it was pretty impressive stuff. So again, the partnership between those two, two boards and commissions. Are there any other big events that you all are planning for a volunteer run organization? We're talking about a lot already to that point,
we are still looking for another Commission member. Commissions have seven slots available, and currently we have six people on our commission. So if anyone out there would like to volunteer and be part of the arts and culture commission, please let Phyllis Bowman know at City Hall. At this point, we have actually just had one of our strategic planning meetings. So we're kind of nailing down what we're looking for for the rest of the year, right now the time that's going to be involved with working on the AARP mural with the senior center. We're not wanting to overdo because one of the other aspects about the arts and cultural commission is that we aren't just the physical doers. We are looking to partner with doers. So we're actually hoping to start up a volunteer call sheet too, so that individuals that want to participate, but they may not want to dedicate themselves to a commission, or they may think, Oh, great. I'd love to help with the mural project. Great. You want to volunteer for a one off kind of thing? That's fantastic, because we know everybody's got busy lives, and so hopefully we'll get that information out shortly about signing up for a volunteer call list.
I bet that's a perfect thing to have in our monthly newsletter. So we'll be on the lookout to sign up for that, and we'll also get it out on our social media channels and website for folk to be able to connect, because our listening audience spans the globe. So maybe we'll bring people in, pioneering in, to come be a part of the work you're doing. And it is much appreciated just to add
fact that we have such great people on our commission, I wanted to mention because Susan Farley was our past chairperson. Julie Jennasau is our current VP or Vice Chairperson. I should say we have Leah London, who's an author, local author here in town, and ad Clark, who's over at Western Oregon. And then, of course, we have Roxanne belts is our new council liaison, and Phyllis Bullman, our amazing city clerk, city recorder, who just is a rock star for us. So I just wanted to make sure that we got everybody, everybody's name out there, because they're fantastic volunteers that do a lot of hard work.
And that is a great group of people that you just mentioned right there. And we had Susan on, I think, our very first season on Monmouth monthly. So our listeners already know and everybody in this studio are huge fans. They already know this. But maybe for you folks out there that are new, there's a Susan Farley episode that you got to go catch up on. So and Dina, this is such a great segue to talk about all the things you're doing. I mean, you get to kind of enjoy the tiny art show being in the library. What did you think about having that in the
space? Oh yeah, it's so beautiful. And I just want to put a plug in for melody. Was talking about volunteers just like, maybe just a one time thing. I know that some of my library volunteers even volunteer for the tiny art show, and they love it. It's just, it's just a way to see other community members and be involved in in a simple, beautiful way. And
I just want to say thank you to the library, the Friends of the Library and the members of the library board. I put out a call to help work at the exhibit, and because there needs to be somebody there in in the space, and they step up every year. So thank you very much for that. Yeah,
thank you. And see, that's the thing, and it's again, all volunteer. I keep saying it and harping on it, because I just want to echo the importance of the people who are doing some real work in our cities. I mean, honestly, I wish that we had the hourly breakdown of what you all would equate to full time staff. If we did that, maybe one day we should start putting our volunteer hours to do that, because I would be curious, because I bet you equal a lot. We need to put $1 amount on that and time, but like, kind of through time and hours and everything, and I don't know the math, I'm doing a call for mathematicians here on Monmouth monthly to come do some quick math thing with me. So Dina, what is your role with the Monmouth Public Library? Yeah,
so at the library, I am what you call a library assistant, three and I do all the cataloging of the adult collection, and I also am the volunteer coordinator. So with the volunteer coordinator job, I am, I'm in charge of all the volunteers.
Have you done volunteer coordination before? Is this something you had a hand
in? You know, the only thing I've really done volunteer wise is, is through my church. And so this is the first actual, you know, outside of the church volunteer coordination I've done, but be, you know, and maybe through kids school stuff, little step above,
same kind of stuff, though, right?
Yeah, same idea.
And so how many volunteers do you think you work with, typically?
So currently I have 16 they have had quite a few more than that in the past, but we try to keep our volunteer level at the level of work that we could provide for them, and have them, you know, be the best help for us that we can have. And so we have 16 volunteers, and I do know that each month we have about average between 65 and 93 hours a month, volunteer hours.
So if I visit the Monmouth Public Library, what am I who where am I going to run into your volunteers? At the checkout counter? Are they going to be stocking? What are they doing at the library for you? So
the volunteers have a wide variety of jobs, which is great. You know, everybody likes variety. You probably won't see them at the checkout counter, but you would see them out in the stacks, shelving or pulling holds for other libraries. Or we have some that I think of it as an art. They cover our books with protective covers. You know, I think that as art, because it always looks so nice, special projects, sometimes things like that. Do
you think that those volunteers make a difference? Do they really cut down on the work that you would
be doing. Oh, yeah. So the the work that they do, most of my volunteers are, they come in weekly, and so the work that they do, it really does help us with our flow, because if they weren't doing what they were doing, we would have to fill in those positions. And there's a lot of things that need to get done besides just shelving, which we love, it has to be shelved. I mean, if you want to check out books, you have to have them on the shelves. So they really do affect our workflow quite a bit.
And shelving actually sounds like a volunteer thing I want to do, like, could be good for my mental health, just to sit there for a second and just put things in order. Look at the order I'm putting things in. It may not stay that way, but boy, the power. I
always say, say to my volunteers, well, you're not only working your mind, but you're working your bodies, because you know you're up and down, and so it's a great thing. It's mentally and physically so and
they allow you to be able to be more front facing with the people in the library that maybe have need you for questions and professional research stuff. Yes, that's
correct. Yes, as I said, they they are kind of the they get all the grant work done so that we can focus on being at having the public answering their questions, or in the back or Carrie Casper, her name was mentioned. She does a lot of planning for adult programs and working with the arts. I mean, she a lot of people are very involved with those type of planning things, and so the volunteers really allow us to be able to do that. And yeah,
I think that. And I don't know about comparative libraries, but I do know that the mama Public Library offers programs that are just like out of this world, and you're that a lot of that is driven by the ability the volunteers, right? Like. Free up staff to do those things, or help add capacity to make those things happen exactly.
Yes, they really do a lot of the work that allows the children's librarian Carrie myself with my cataloging, to allow us the time to get those things done, so that it usually takes about an hour to shelf a, you know, a cart of books, and so we have adult cards, we have children's books cards, we have DVDs. So, you know, we have several volunteers every day. You know, spending an hour on each of those things. That's at least three hours, right there a day.
How do you celebrate volunteers at the library? They seem pretty happy. It seems like you've had people be there for a long time, right? Yeah,
we just had one of our volunteers retired just this last year, and she was 39 years volunteering
Holy peanut butter.
So I Yeah, and so we really love them a lot. We provide them with food, snacks all the time, cookies, smiles. I'm always grateful. All of us at the library are always real careful to look for their needs and to acknowledge the hard work that they do and always being grateful to them. And we also have a volunteer recognition each year, and so that is coming up in April, and we get to enjoy either a dessert or a meal prizes, you know, time together, so things like that.
And that does make a big difference. I find food is at the heart of a lot of these things. You will never come to a town hall in Monmouth and leave hungry because I just believe that you should. If I'm asking you to come during dinner, darling, you're going to get a meal. But that's cool that you do that. It seems like there's some longevity around that for sure. Now, do you have a need for volunteers at this time?
So I could probably use one or two, if anybody's or three, you know, I there's nothing wrong with coming in to be a volunteer at the library. It's a really simple process. We have applications at the checkout desk. It's a it's one page application. You fill it out, you turn it in, get a call from me, and we chat. So, you know, it's really simple to get that done, and then if I am in need of a volunteer, I will definitely call you and say, Hey, are you still interested in shelving a book cart or covering some books? Okay?
And they can do that, you said, by either going to the checkout desk. And maybe you can double check your website to make sure that that volunteer application is easily available here as well. Yeah, fantastic. And who knows. I'm sure the show notes might contain some easy links to get to you to be able to make sure that people know how to help out. And I just want people to know that our library always has something going on, whether it's an arts and commission art show, or it's the fact that there's just a great programming constantly. I want people to know that that is going on. Do you have to be a Monmouth resident to be a volunteer? No,
you do not. I actually have people come from Dallas. I have some out, out false anyway, weekly. They just love to come in, and I love to have them. So no, you do not have to be a Monmouth. Monmouth resident. That
is certainly a testament of the quality of experience that somebody would drive 30 minutes to just volunteer for maybe a couple hours. Yeah. So where are you from? Did you Yeah?
So I am from Dallas or Oregon, originally a Monmouth transplant. Once, when I got married, my husband had a house here. I'm like, Okay, I actually went to school at Western, graduated with a Bachelor of Science there, and then we, my husband and I lived here for 24 years, raised our four kids here. We just moved on to 22 acres outside of Dallas, and are living the farm life just just within this last year.
Oh, that's nice. That's why you got a big smile on your face. So awesome. Yeah, my audience can't see you could probably hear her smile, though, because I think it's coming through the microphone.
I'm always smiling. The fact who know me, that's that's like my that's who I am. I can't know. So
see, that's who you want in your libraries. Okay, so that's great.
Well, that I told y'all it was going to be an action packed episode, and I want to remind everybody, if you want to learn more about the boards and commissions, not just arts and culture, parks and recreation, transportation, safety, there are so many people doing great work in this community, you're going to visit tiny url.com/monmouth, boards and commissions, and that way You can find out all about the different descriptions, what the requirements are, and fill out the application, which goes right to the city recorder. You also want to come and check out the art displays over at Monmouth City Hall. It's some beautiful art. You're going to come to 151 main street. Our office hours are eight to five Monday through Friday, and you can just take a stroll downstairs and take a peek and see what we have cooking over there. Many thanks to the volunteers who make that happen. We're going to do our best to announce and make it easier for you to access what art is currently there and the artist of the past. You can also reach out to the arts and culture commission from that web page if you have questions about how to connect. Also want to remind. Folks about our library. You can connect to our library from our web page or check out our newsletter. We always list the programs going on, and you can check them out. They are incredible. They change monthly, and there's something for people of all ages. We are also a proud sponsor of Smith Fine Arts. And April 12, the Beo String Quartet will be performing. You can buy tickets. As always I say, do not gamble. Don't wait to buy them at the door. Buy them online. Pick your seat. Go to woo.edu/smith curtain is at 730 on April 12. You do not want to miss that. Also, we have other art galleries in the area. Cannon gallery is on campus. It's a great thing to check out. Paula booth is the gallery director there, and she does some really amazing things alongside student volunteer workers and some paid student staff. It's it's pretty amazing the things that they can do in that space. So I do recommend checking those out. We are so glad to have you listen. We cannot wait to return again for our May episode. We look forward to talking to you soon, until then, you know the drill. Rate review, subscribe, tell all your friends, and we will see you again next month.
Thankyou for joining. US for Monmouth monthly. My name is Sabra Jewell. Our music is catching up by chill study and we recorded indie comments, which is a co working community in Independence, Oregon. Please find us wherever you find podcasts, rate review, tell the friend, and we will see you next month. You
