Friends of the Depot will participate at Art in the Park

Volunteers of the Friends of the Orange Depot, the non-profit organization formed to restore the Southern Pacific Depot at Green and Eleventh Street, will be out in full force in their booth at Art in the Park, Saturday, May 2, 9:00 am-3:00 pm in Stark Park.

They encourage residents to stop by their booth to find out the status of the fundraising effort and learn some of the plans for the museum which will be installed inside the depot after the renovation is completed. The multi-purpose facility will not only hold artifacts and history of the four industries that propelled Orange in the 20th century, railroad transportation, timber, shipbuilding and petrochemicals, but the museum areas will be able to be transformed into special events and conferences.

The architects, Rob Clark and Nina Rivers, with AIA, Inc., in Beaumont have completed the design development phase, and visitors to the F.O.O.D. booth will be able to view some of the plans.

Of course, donations and engraved bricks at $50 and $100 will be encouraged to help the organization reach its goals.

Special items also for sale at the booth will be tee shirts; attractive wine and beer glasses bearing a handpainted F.O.O.D. logo can special ordered from the artist and volunteer, Sue Ryder; bags of notecards bearing train art designed by local school children who participated in a contest last fall; and signed books of The Train Stopped in Orange, written by the group’s founder and former Orange resident, Carrie Woliver.

Since soon the organization will begin collecting artifacts for the museum, anyone who wants to donate or loan such items relating to the four industries featured in the museum is encouraged to stop by the booth, which will be located across from the Stark Museum on Green Avenue.

Further information can be obtained from Carol Sims, chairman of the event, at 883-6297, or the website http://www.orangetxdepot.org.