On November 16th, I gave a Camp Adair presentation at the Polk County Historical Society. It was one of my more generalized talks about how the camp came to be to present day Adair Village,
a part of the history that many find the most intriguing due to being a more modern history and there are people still have memories of the overall cultural significance and impact of the camp made in lives, even to today. Little did I know that what I was going to share, would be heard by so many people.
In the run up to the presentation, I have had a lot going on in my personal, professional, and volunteer life. Coaching my kids through school, doctors’ appointments, a trip to the Washington DC metro area, and many things I have been researching from career moves to my continual drive to find more information and documents pertaining to the 96th Infantry Division have been on my plate. Knowing that this was on my calendar, but even up to the week of, I was starting to feel very underprepared. Though I felt that way, I am confident in the subject and know the presentation inside and out.
This presentation, for me would be one of the biggest for me, partly because of where it was at but because my family had agreed to come too. They really hadn’t been to one before to listen, as my wife videoed one presentation years ago for me, so she was working and not hearing the talk. The museum was another spot though that I knew would be of interest for my wife, as her family (both sides) are from Polk County, Oregon and there were items of interest for her. So, the family connection to the county and to Camp Adair was very real to share with my kids.
Figure 2: People sitting on the stairs listening. Opposite side of the page: The crowd. Photos
What also made this a big presentation was just the number of community members who showed up. The support for the museum was amazing for this talk. The space of the museum that they have presentations in may hold a total of 40 people. It is tight with the AV, sound equipment, and a small kitchen to be able to serve food at events.
The crowd spilled out into the main display area of the museum, all the chairs were used, and people were sitting and standing on the stairs that go up to the second floor of the building. Jerry, one of the coordinators, came up to me after and said that 117 people had signed the guestbook, and many had not. He safely estimated 120 people came, and claimed it was the second largest crowd that have hosted, though their Facebook page said it was the largest. Some people that came were directly affected by the Camp’s construction; some came with stories of finding ordinance in fields and forest areas, then others came with an interest to what happened on these 65,000 acres that changed many aspects of the central Willamette Valley. In all, the success of the day was that a mutually beneficial partnership was solidified to be able to share these stories of sacrifice.