SHSND hosting Sensational Sundays

The State Historical Society of North Dakota is sponsoring four months of Sensational Sundays programs, beginning Jan. 10 and ending April 11. There will be no program on Easter Sunday, April 4.

All 13 programs are free and open to the public, and will begin at 2 p.m. at the North Dakota Heritage Center, followed by refreshments.

Here is the schedule, with all programs beginning at 2 p.m.:

* Jan. 10: The program will feature Gateway to Science, a hands-on science center located at the Frances Leach High Prairie Arts and Science Complex in Bismarck. Science club leader Arlene Edmundson will present a variety of interesting science demonstrations, assisted by other science club members.

* Jan. 17: The program will feature the Shade Tree Players, a theater group featuring children of the Bis-marck-Mandan area, ages six to 16, showing how a production is put together with actors on stage.

* Jan. 24: The program will feature the Bismarck High School Swing Choir, led by director Michael Seil.

* Jan. 31: The program will feature the Let’s Dance Studio of Bismarck, with dancers from preschool to teens performing a series of numbers to a variety of musical numbers.

* Feb. 7: State Ar-chives staff will give a presentation on items in its collections, including manuscripts, photographs, and state and local government records, and how to access information on the State Historical Society’s Web site.

* Feb. 14: “Mosasaurs, Sharks, and Giant Squids: North Dakota’s Prehistoric Underwater World,” by Dr. John Hoganson, state paleontologist, North Dakota Geological Survey.

* Feb. 21: “From Hunting and Gathering to Hunting and Gardening in the 13th Century Along the Missouri River in North Dakota,” by Fern Swenson, the SHSND’s archaeology and historic preservation director. She will discuss results from archaeological investigations at Menoken State Historic Site near Bismarck, a hunting and gathering settlement dating to AD 1200 that once had approximately 30 houses surrounded by a bastioned palisade and ditch. The site provides a sound basis for continuing study of settlement development along the Missouri River.

* Feb. 28: “Germans, Japanese and Italians” Unwelcome in North Dakota.” Fort Lincoln was used during World War II as an internment camp for German, Italian and Japanese military and civilian personnel. The SHSND’s Curator of Education Marilyn Snyder and Outreach Programs Coordinator Scott Schaffnit will discuss its history, which is today the campus of United Tribes Technical College. Built in south Bismarck at the beginning of the last century, this is a different site than Fort Abraham Lincoln near Mandan, where Custer and the Seventh U.S. Cavalry were stationed.

* March 7: March is for Music, featuring The Radio Stars from Fargo, a band that plays a variety of music, with a special treatment of both modern and traditional Western-style music. The band includes “Magic” Merrill Peipkorn, host of the popular North Dakota Public Radio program, Hear It Now and three of his musical friends, Gregg “Smokey” Temple, Roger “R.P.” Sell, and Alex Rydell.

* March 14: March is for Music, featuring Elvis Presley impersonator Bill Schott and Neil Diamond impersonator Tim Persell in separate performances. Schott was named one of the Top 10 Elvis Presley impersonators in the world at the International Images of Elvis competition in 2004 in Memphis, Tennessee. The performances are free, but a ticket for each is required. Tickets will be available beginning March 1. For more information, call SHSND Curator of Education Marilyn Snyder at 701-328-2792 or e-mail msnyder@nd.gov.

* March 21: March is for Music, featuring Freeway, a four-piece gospel and bluegrass band from Bismarck.

* March 28: March is for Music, featuring the “Balladeer of North Dakota,” Chuck Suchy of Mandan. One of North Dakota’s most acclaimed singers/ songwriters, Suchy sings about his life experiences in his home state.  

* April 11: The program will feature the Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra performing the Overture to the Barber of Seville, Aesop’s Fables Suite, The Sabre Dance, and Peter and the Wolf with the Northern Plains Ballet.

For more information, contact Marilyn Snyder, the SHSND’s curator of education, at (701) 328-2792, email msynder@nd.gov or visit the SHSND’s website at www.history.nd.gov.

Tags: heritage center, diversions, entertainment, history