Malstrom Award 2010
Eight nominations were received for the 2010 Malstrom Award. The variety, research and creativity of these projects is inspiring and exciting.  These projects once again represent the passion for preserving and interpreting local and regional history for its own sake.  All the projects are interesting and in reality cannot be “compared” or graded. They represent new points of view with respect for old, they honor buildings, people, events that contribute in small and large ways to our understanding of our society and ourselves. The order of the projects listed is random. They projects will be judged by a museum/history specialist outside Snohomish County.
Results will be announced at the Malstrom Award Luncheon, Saturday, January 29th, 2011. (Noon, Waltz Building, Snohomish)Â For reservation form, click here.
Past winners of the Malstrom Awards are listed here (pdf).
Project Name: Expansion of the Western Heritage Center [Museum Exhibit Expansion]  Sponsor: Western Heritage Center. Jerry Senner, Project Director
Description: In 2009-2010, the Western Heritage Center (located on the Monroe Fairgrounds) underwent a 800 square foot expansion that enlarged the Center to make it ADA accessible and to enhance the exhibits. The new exhibits include a country kitchen, interactive agriculture displays, Native American artifacts and a research library. It also included a space for a museum docent to offer a welcome orientation to visitors. This expansion was done with grant money and hours of in-kind volunteer hours and labor to accomplish the task.
Project Name: Early Pioneers and Land owners of Southwest Snohomish County—1910 [Exhibit]  Sponsor: Joint project by the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association and Sno-Isle Genealogical Society, both organizations located in Heritage Park in Lynnwood,Washington
Description: This project was an exhibit of stories and photos portraying the landowners and settlers in the more isolated section of Southwest Snohomish County in the year 1910. The exhibit was displayed at the Heritage Resource Center, Alderwood Manor Heritage Association’s Cottage at Heritage Park in Lynnwood, Washington. These stories and photos were divided into sections on story boards along the walls of Heritage Cottage so that visitors could easily follow the stories and realize the historical significance of early day plat maps. This particular exhibit was based on the 1910 plat map of Township 27 North, Range 4 East, W.M. covering Snohomish County north of the King County line and included the town of Edmonds and settlements at Cedar Valley, Forest Park (Alderwood Manor), Esperance, Meadowdale, Martha Lake and Lake Ballinger.
Project Name: Snohomish County Digital Map Overlay Project [Digital Mapping Project]    Sponsor: Granite Falls Historical Society. Fred Cruger, Project Director.  Carolyn Davisson, President
Description: Snohomish County maps have been an invaluable tool for researchers but not easily accessible and certainly not in a comparative way. Working with volunteer students and museum docents, Fred Cruger undertook a daunting effort to arrange and compare hundreds of historic maps, modern property data, and aerial photographs for the entire Snohomish County. Using powerful mapping software tools obtained through special grants, they organized this information into a database that can easily be accessed using free commercial software. Finally, they replicated the data (about 200 gigabytes) and free software tools multiple times on separate disc drives for distribution to other Snohomish County heritage organizations and in October of 2010 gave a demonstration to attendees at the American Assocation of State and Local History Conference. A great project was done for minimal cost and with volunteer expertise.
Project Name: Home Sweet Snohomish [Musical/Theatrical Production]   Sponsor:Tim Noah of NOAZART PRODUCTIONS, 360-568-9412 Warner Blake and the Snohomish Historical Society in association with HENDERSON PRODUCTIONS AND DEVIN RICE DESIGNS. WWW.THUMBNAILTHEATER.ORG
Description: Described by historian David Dilgard as “The Bard of Cadyvilleâ€, Tim Noah is an Emmy Award winning songwriter who has written, performed and recorded many musical pieces. This year he focused his talents on the Snohomish County Sesquicentennial and his hometown of Snohomish to create a 2 disc musical CD/DVD called “Home Sweet Snohomish”.
Project Name:Â Welcome Center featuring the Stillaguamish Valley Watershed 1910 [Three dimensional Map & Building]Â Â Â Sponsor:Â Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Association
Description: The SVPA saw the need to inform visitors by establishing a community showcase freely open to thepublic. The obvious subject was judged to be the Stillaguamish River Valley Watershed. The hand-carved, hand painted multidimensioal map spans from the Puget Sund to the Cascade Mountains. The task was also to show how our fore-fathers visions made history. They developed a dream and resulting liveihoods for the earl pioneers who came to the area. The project honors Native Americans and the migrating early pioneers. The map is housed in a carved log open building which contains the glass covered, three dimensional carved map. The building was built specifically for the project. The map depicts cultural and natural features as they existed at the time of the 1910 census.
Project Name: “Etched In Stone – Dedicated to the Young Men of Edmonds School District 15 who lost their lives to Warâ€. [Print Publication]  Sponsor: Sno-Isle Genealogical Society
Description:  The project is a history of the Memorial Monument located at the front entrance to the Edmonds Historical Museum. Also, it is a history of the young men whose names are engraved n the monument. This was a work of respect and remembrance of the young men of WWI and WWII, neighbors, classmates, friends and family.
Project Name:Â “Rosehill – Revealed in a Dancer’s Dream” [Dance Production]Â Â Â Sponsor:Â Allegro Dance Studios – Shelley and Kary Etherington
Description: Like dance studios across the land, Allegro presents a spring program in which its students perform a variety of dances to demonstrate what they have learned during the year. The Spring 2010 recital pageant of Allegro Studios was presented in June titled “Rosehill Revealed in a Dancer’s Dream”. It demonstrated the history of Mukilteo and particularly of the town’s Rosehill School – a historic building in recent years a center for community activities, including the Allegro Dance Studio. The building will soon be replaced by a more modern structure and this dance was a fitting topic for the dance school’s annual recital.
Seattle Everett Interurban Railway
Project Name:Â “Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway” by Cheri Ryan and Kevin Stadler [Print Publication]Â Â Sponsor:Â Alderwood Manor Heritage Association
Description: Book publication featuring the history of the Seattle Everett Interurban Railway that ran between Seattle and Everett, Washington. Operating for 29 years,the Seattle-Everett Interurban trolley traveled 29 miles carrying passengers and freight to nearly 30 stops along its line. The interurban trolley made its inaugural run from Everett to Seattle n May 2, 1910. On February 20, 1939, the trolley left Everett for its last run. Published by Arcadia Publishing.
