Dear Pearl,
I know it’s been a while, and I’m awful sorry for not writing sooner. I know how our family likes to poke a little (or a lot) of fun at one another for that – not keeping in touch. I’ve been wanting to share with you some exciting news, that, in your name, we earned an award from our Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor’s Office to host a month-long celebration of family history, community, and art. And in typical fashion, I’ve managed to come up with the most ridiculous name once again: The Teenealogy Tapestry Fest.
The idea is that, by engaging teens (and their families) they can begin a journey of discovery for themselves. And of course, “Back when I was your age…”, as a teen, I was so lucky to have my grandpa around daily. He was your nephew, Pearl, you should have been 46 when your brother and his wife delivered my grandpa. And like all Taggarts, he was a hoot, and told the best stories.
So the idea behind hosting this was truly to reach as many people as possible and encourage them to learn more about their own family history, while also learning a new skill of tapestry weaving and participating in a larger-than-life community tapestry. We invited local experts, musicians, and volunteers to make this an incredible journey, ending with a big community celebration and “great reveal” of the tapestry.
The tapestry was proudly displayed at the Murrieta Public Library throughout the month, and the experience is sure to have a profound and lasting impact on participants in our city. And we are so grateful to all the participants, especially one family who showed up to almost every event and really symbolized the reach and impact we aim to foster. Thanks so much for the volunteer support from not only our library staff, but the amazing National Charity League mother-daugher volunteers!
Thank you also to the busy, but local, third district riverside county supervisor Chuck Washington for supporting this project and also for showing up to our feature event to witness and be part of the culmination of the month’s events, showing up just in time to see our short 3 minute documentary by the talented and self proclaimed “Grandma’s boy” Sean at Memoria Films, that highlighted the uniqueness of the festivities and the mission behind it all, which is you Pearl! And you of all people, know I am a “grandpa’s girl”, which is why I felt that our nonprofit and Memoria Films were such a good match for this project.
Cheers to the next BIG thing! (aka updates about our TRAIN) Coming soon…
Your loving niece,
Aimee
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