Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum reopens for another season

PERU | "Our family has always been collectors. My mother was a great collector," Leeward Babbie, the founder of the Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum stated. "I'm sure my Father when he first started this in 2010 never believed it would grow this big. He was thinking, cause he had antiques himself, just having a small museum to show people," David Babbie, the board president of the Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum told Sun Community News. The Babbie Museum is deceiving to the eye. Most people who drive by and have never visited the museum see the building in the front and think that's it, but there's so much more. A blacksmith, granary, and the original store from Goshen are just some of the displays individuals can look at, and interact with, at the Babbie Museum. "We have a lot more than just farming," Karen Babbie, the school program coordinator for the Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum said. Although the museum has grown a lot in the 12 years it has been open, it has faced its fair share of challenges. The museum didn't open for its 2020 season due to the pandemic and had a late start in 2021. "One was a loss of income for 2020 because our insurance and all those expenses were still there," David explained. One of the major sources of revenue for the Babbie Museum is field trips. In their best year, it was estimated that they made $4,000 just from field trips. "Our big income used to be schools and the last two years we didn't have the schools," Leeward said. This didn't slow the museum down though, and they have the community to thank for that. "They still gave us the membership money. We offered to put it to the next year or to return it, and a lot of people didn't they just wanted to support the museum," said David. With society returning back to some semblance of normalcy, the Babbie Museum is getting back into the swing of things. They already have seven schools signed up for visits this year. In addition, the Town of Peru upped its annual donation to the museum, and the museum received a donation from the Stewarts Holiday Match Program, a program that has helped the museum complete many of its projects. This year the money was used to repair parts of the horse fence that were starting to rot due to age. The museum also completed its picnic area, making this the first year that it is open for use. A sawmill display is the next on the list to be completed. "It's always good to grow, and we've done projects, we try to do a project each year you know, as far as a different building. Right now we're doing a sawmill, which has been kind of in the works for over a year now and we're hoping to finish it up this year. And once we get the sawmill done it would be a schoolhouse for the kids to participate in and see how it was done back then," David said. The building over the mill, which is from the early 1900s, itself is completed. All that's left to do is to place the engine in the mill and hook it up. The goal is to have the mill operational by Harvest Weekend in October. As for the future, the museum is looking to keep growing and continue serving its community. "So this was a first-grader, or second grader, or maybe younger than that. Yeah, he had to be younger than that. He comes to get his prize, and after he picks up his prize… I said 'Well did you have a good time?' He looks at me and he says, 'That was the bestest fun I've ever had.' Now to me, that said it all," Audrey Falcon, a docent on the museum board described. "It makes it all worthwhile," Leeward concluded. The Babbie Museum will open for the season on May 14 and is currently looking for volunteers. To learn more about what's going on at the Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum or to volunteer visit their Facebook page Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum or their website https://www.babbiemuseum.org/.

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Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum reopens for another season

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