Sean C. Morgan
“Sweet Home: A History in Pictures” will be released Saturday during an open house at the Jim Riggs Community Center.
The “Old-Fashioned Christmas” program runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the community center, 880 18th Ave.
The Sweet Home Genealogical Society is finishing the first of the books this week.
“They hauled it from Bend today to the binder,” said committee member Corky Lowen Friday. The first run of 300 books won’t be complete by the open house, but the society will have books there for sale.
“We’re going to have music off and on,” Lowen said, and there will be a sing-along.
The open house includes light refreshments and special speakers. Dave Holley will emcee.
A program is planned with presentations and skits, Lowen said. “We kind of want it fashioned after an old-time school program.”
Entertainment runs from 1 to 3 p.m.
The book ended up at 302 pages and includes 1,470 photos of Sweet Home yesterday and today.
The cover will feature the wooden city seal that hangs in the City Council chamber. The seal was designed and built by Ben Dahlenburg.
The book is similar to “Oregon: Then and Now,” a coffee-table sized photo book that depicts historic scenes around Oregon on one page and a photo taken in the same place today. It will sell for $75.
The photos are arranged more as a progression rather than a “then and now” style.
The book will cost more than $10,000 to publish. The society has raised close to $8,000 for the printing. Funding has included a $500 grant from the city, and the committee is planning to apply for a $5,000 grant from the Grand Ronde Tribe.
The Genealogical Society is planning to give some of the proceeds to the East Linn Museum because of its contributions to the book. The museum needs a laptop projector and must replace portions of its roof.
The book was intended to raise funds for the Genealogical Society, but that’s only half of it, said committee Chairwoman Terri Lanini. “It’s a great thing for the community because it makes people aware of where things came from and where they started.”
The committee is planning to give copies to the schools and city library.
For information, call the Genealogical Society at (541) 367-5034.