The Riverbank Historical Society held its annual dinner recently, introducing its board of directors and officers for 2020 to the largest crowd in recent memory.
Perko’s Restaurant was the scene on Saturday evening, Feb. 8, with officers presented to the crowd after dinner.
At-large board members include Judie Hardie, and past presidents Paulette Roberson and Craig Ethier. Continuing as Treasurer this year is Rich Holmer, along with returning President Kristin Platts, entering her third and final year in office.
New officers include Lana Clayton, as Vice President, and Secretary Susy Ioya.
Past president Ethier’s parents, Ruth and Henri (Hank) Ethier, were founding members of the society and his sister, Heidi, also has served as society president.
Riverbank Vice Mayor Luis Uribe and City Council members Cindi Fosi and Cal Campbell were also in attendance. Campbell served as Vice President last year, while his wife Marina served as secretary.
A sub-committee will be meeting soon to organize more of its ongoing efforts to raise funds to build an annex building adjacent to the existing Historical Museum, which is located at 3237 Santa Fe St.
The City of Riverbank owns the museum building, which was built as a Carnegie Library in 1921, while the society maintains the collections and its volunteers staff the museum. The building has been listed on the National Registry of Historic Places since Feb. 3, 1997.
The city has purchased the property next door, but the society is tasked with raising the money to construct the building.
In addition to several major events over the past year, the Historical Society has prepared a preliminary design for the annex. Previous fundraising in the campaign included special movie showings of the Back to the Future series at the IMAX Theatre at the Galaxy complex.
Officials have said they find it necessary to build an annex to be able to house all the photos, documents, pieces of equipment and other items it owns.
The next event for the Historical Society is its yearly After-Mother’s Day Omelette Breakfast. Held every year on the Sunday following Mother’s Day in May, this event raises the money the society uses to operate the museum and maintain its contents.
Money raised at other events will go toward building the annex.
The current museum hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. until noon, and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. It is staffed by volunteers.
