Athens residents had an opportunity to relive the past this Saturday at a civil-war era themed fundraising event for the Athens County Historical Society and Museum.
The 3rd Annual Civil War Ball, held at the Athens Community Center, 701 E. State St., encouraged guests to dress up in period-appropriate attire and enjoy a night of dancing and music.
The event serves not only as a fundraiser for the museum and historical society, but also as a commemoration of the sesquicentennial — or 150th anniversary — of the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865.
The event featured The Back Porch Swing Band, which performed throughout the evening, and the Times Past Vintage Dancers, who brought an air of authenticity to the event by performing and teaching guests time-period accurate dance moves.
“It’s a long and arduous process,” said Cyrus Moore III, from the historical society. “It arguably starts when the previous ball ends. …It’s been at least four months of solid planning. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of planning and a lot of volunteer hours.”
The historical society lost money the first year it held the event, but since then the events have been much more successful.
Bosha Green, the museum’s coordinator, estimated that 150 tickets had been sold and the historical society would raise about $2,000 by the end of the night.
The historical society was also selling gift shop items at the door and drinks in order to raise extra funds. There was a “war chest” in one corner of the room in which guests could place donations to the historical society.
“We of course operate for money because we have to, but a lot of times, we just do these things to get our name out there and get people active,” Moore said.
Guests of the event were invited to participate in raffles for a variety of items from the Civil War Museum’s Gift Shop, including replica kepis, which were the hats worn by soldiers during the Civil War, and “Field Notes on the Civil War,” the museum’s newest book.
“The war chest is a symbol of the fight against losing our history,” Green said. “We operate on such limited funds. We can only do what our community allows us to do.”
Camille Scott, a senior at Ohio University, helped out in planning the event the first year it was held, but this was the first year she was able to attend. She said it was important for her to attend the event at least once before she graduated.
“I’m pretty pleased,” Scott said “Everyone’s costumes are absolutely incredible.”
In spite of the rainy weather that night, many of the historical society members said the event was successful and very well attended.
“We are pretty full and everyone’s having a very good time,” said Tom Medley, a volunteer for the event. “Next year we’ll have even more people.
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