POLSON — Fiddlers, basket weavers, a blacksmith and train operators all worked around each other last weekend as inquiring families participated in this year’s live history days at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson.

This year’s crowd of attendees was average, but with four festivals and celebrations in the same weekend, the live history display lost some of its usual exhibitors and visitors.  The losses were especially crucial because the live history days serve as an annual fundraiser for the non-profit museum.  This year the museum hoped to raise money to put a new roof on the Paul Bunyan Boat, a historic logging boat that sailed the waters of the Flathead Lake between 1920s and 1940s.

Walking into the Miracle of America Museum is akin to stepping into a time machine and traveling back to the beginning of our nation and following our advancements in technology and culture.

“From the walking plow to walking on the moon, that’s what we like to say,” Gil Mangels, owner and founder of the Miracle of America Museum, said.

Mangels said he has been interested in history and pieces of ‘mechanical art’ since he was 3 years old. When he was a teen, his interest shifted to classic cars.  Growing up his grandmothers gave him an antique pistol and rifle.  

Mangels’ idea for a museum based on the history of our country came from his experience in the military.  He visited East Berlin when the Berlin Wall was still intact.  Mangels said he realized then that freedom is precious.  He said his military exhibits honor veterans and let younger generations know how fragile and wonderful our freedoms are.  

Most important to Mangels is the multigenerational bonding he observes in his museum. The artifacts prompt memories older generations never would have thought to share with their families.

As a non-profit organization the money earned from admissions and live history days goes toward maintenance and new acquisitions for the museum.  Mangels would love to add an auto-buggy, the vehicle invented in between the horse-and-buggy and the motorized vehicle, to his collection.  He said the coveted item has come up at auction and he had not had the budget to purchase it.

Live history days themselves may become a thing of the past as well. Mangels said this year it was too hard to put the event on alone and if he doesn’t get devoted exhibitors and volunteers soon that he plans on cancelling the annual Polson event.

“I’m a realist. Sometimes a pessimist, sometimes an optimist, but mainly a realist,” he said.

Mangels said he is willing to train volunteers to run the machines and is willing to have historic craftspeople of all kinds come be a part of the live history exhibit. He hopes that younger generations will come forward to help.

It is his hope that a younger generation interested in history will keep his museum running for many, many years.