The Bayfield Heritage Association...

• promotes awareness, appreciation and preservation of Bayfield's distinctive history and has had a positive and significant impact on the region since its formation in 1977.

• maintains a collection of archival materials and artifacts relevant to the history of Bayfield and the Apostle Islands region.

• provides educational opportunities and experiences to students, researchers and writers.

• collaborates with area experts on the needs and desires of the community to preserve the rich history of the Bayfield area.

• is a chapter member of the Bayfield County Historical Society and an affiliate of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

• is supported by a diverse membership and governed by a dedicated volunteer board of directors who recognize the need to meet new challenges.

• is an established IRS 501(c) (3) charitable organization and therefore monetary and other contributions to the Bayfield Heritage Association, Inc. are tax deductible to the extent of the law.

                      PARTNERS THROUGH TIME

 Thank you for this time today… thank you for your interest, your memberships and your past support.

 Here's why we are here:

 1) To establish our credibility as a very important part of this community, and to establish that BHA is very valuable, no critical, to our continuing “sense of place,” those feelings that we have of this community that are the reason for the charm and draw of this place we call home.  Many of us moved here because of that sense of place.

 2) To ask the city to be our partner.

This includes again being a financial partner ....  and a partner in collecting and preserving our heritage and history to be told for the benefit of our community and for the many guests who visit the Best Little Town in the Midwest.   We believe that you need us and we need you.

To accomplish these goals, we have prepared a pamphlet you have all rec'd, and prepared this overall argument.

 This doesn't really tell the long and difficult journey to establish a museum for our community ... your community. You would not know, for example, that this was a 37-year process during which we established four museums, hauled our collections in and out of our basements and attics each time, only to be forced to move.  

 As for our credibility, we have existed for 37 years and I personally have been involved during that time with the exception of the three years when I left to lead the PAII.

 During that time, we purchased the Courthouse, led the effort to raise almost $700,000 to renovate the building and  work to secure a suitable occupant.  Certainly, we are blessed to have the NPS in that building, and certainly it is good that the building was saved.  But do not forget that one major reason or this work for us was to have A MUSEUM in that building.

 This building is a huge asset to the community and it pays.  Besides the upkeep, the Bayfield general fund collects $45,000 a year from the lease.

 We were forced from that building, and as a credible partner gave our space to keep the NPS here.  As a result, we were given the rent amount for our space, which the city stopped paying last year.

 After losing our home, we were given 100 & 105 Rittenhouse Ave.  We moved in only to realize this was not the best museum space for us…. or the city.  From cost of renovation to issues of lost tax revenue and lost retail space, we decided to look for plan C. To me this again establishes our credibility.

 We then purchased the current location, setting up a temp. museum as we worked to raise funds for a proper museum.

We started construction on our $550,000 building in 2000, although we didn’t have all the money, and have now, 10 years later, finally paid our building off.  Again, a credible partner.

 As a partner, add to this the tourism we foster and create, the programs we provide and soon the benefits of the Research Center for genealogy and research. But there is more.  For we also worked on a series of personal chronicles, preserving forever, the images and words of over one hundred  citizens.  And we will continue that project.

We also commissioned Riding the Wind, the favorite of a dozen local history shows that sustain one of the most popular tourism engines in the region.  We feel no small pride in being one of the reasons for the establishment of the Big Top as well as the production of all of these shows that followed.  We receive no money for this.  Again, a credible partner in tourism.

 We also own and maintain, at no small expense and with little help, the Fountain Garden at the very entrance to our town.  With its historic fountain, it sets the scene for our guests’ experience in our city.  Once more a credible partner…..

There is more, but I think you will agree that we have been credible pa

 We have a good partner, but what more lies ahead?

 We are now engaged in a capital campaign to raise $450,000. Although we have yet to meet our final goal, we recently burned the mortgage and are in the midst of creating a state of the art Research Center that will become a great center for genealogy and historical research.

 We now come before you to again partner w/ the City, having recently begun a partnership w/ the Town of Bayfield.  In my view we have never not been partners, although in the past several years the city obviously lost tract of the value of that partnership by ending the rent arrangement. 

 We should remember that w/o BHA the NPS would never have been in our city, contributing in many ways to the (economic, social, cultural, historical and intellectual) community we call Bayfield.  The courthouse lease is self-supporting and also contributes $45,000 to the city coffers, yet our small rent has stopped.  For any numbers of reasons, I can understand that the city might benefit financially from the Courthouse, but so should BHA.  We are hardly in competition with the city, we are your partner, just as your Library and Schools are partners.  We have as our mission to tell our story …. Your story!  We think this is important to you.

 We view our relationship in the same way as that between the State of Wisconsin and the WHS.  This is a deeply historical community with a large historic district. Without our heritage and the wealth of beautiful historic buildings, we would not be the Best Little Town in the Midwest.  With BHA as a partner, you have established ordinances and laws to protect that sense of place.  Now, we have reached that point where we can play a larger role in that partnership and we hope that new role can begin soon.

 We would like to begin a dialog about the many important historical records that are being stored in this building …. records that go back to the founding of the city, perhaps before.  We feel these are irreplaceable and we would like to discuss working with the city to better preserve these and make them available for study. This is just one way in which we could again be a partner.

 There are other potential partnerships that could be very fruitful.  One is our jail, which could add immeasurably to the enjoyment of guests and locals, if it were restored and opened with appropriate interpretive materials and staff.  This dialog has begun, but our board feels we cannot support this expense without getting a lease longer than 5 years, the latest Council offer.

 We are also here to open a dialog about ongoing city financial support for BHA, as the Town of Bayfield recently agreed to.  Our work on the Courthouse, alone, might warrant that, but add our work at the Fountain Garden Park, and the many other examples of what we do.

 The demographics of the folks coming to Bayfield fit perfectly with our museum.  We have a beautiful, functioning facility with first-rate exhibits.  I suspect most of you know that our exhibit The Flood of 42” won the WHS’s award for 2010 as the best new exhibit in Wisconsin. 

 We are mounting another as I speak, and continue to work on a multi-year project to erect new permanent exhibits to match the first part of the commercial fishing exhibit we opened last year, with one segment to be completed for this summer’s season.  Meanwhile, we have moved our Flood exhibit to our newly renovated North Gallery, along side the barbershop exhibit.

 We were recently asked to host the Wisconsin Humanities Council meeting this spring and to host the WHS’s annual Board of Curator’s Meeting in June of 2012.  This is another indication of the work BHA does which benefits Bayfield.  This certainly qualifies as tourism promotion, a part of what we do every day as your business partner.

 In short, BHA represents some of the best that Bayfield is.  We are a very active organization with a solid mission of telling the Bayfield story thru collecting and preserving our rich heritage.  We have only begun, and have much to do.  We are your partner as we both serve our community as well as develop and promote tourism. We are an important public value to this community as a partner in education, an economic engine, and a steward of our community’s important collections.  We hope we have earned your respect and trust…… and your support both financially and as a partner in our shared missions.

 We are not here to ask for an answer tonight.  You have the pamphlet we produced, which explains our position and monetary request.  We hope to start dialog regarding city records as well as other projects mentioned here or ones yet to be discussed.

 I, and others, am here to answer any questions you may have, and to look to the future together.  BHA views today’s presentation as another beginning in a long established partnership.

 Jerry Phillips,  President, BHA Board of Directors

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