Spark! Smithsonian exhibit coming to Kellogg
CAROLYN BOSTICK | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 1 month AGO
The Smithsonian Institute traveling exhibition Spark! Places of Innovation, is coming to Kellogg for six weeks from July 15 to Aug. 19 at 125 McKinley Ave., Kellogg.
Silver Valley Economic Development Corporation is hosting weekly Front Porch Conversations beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, and Spark Festival from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, July 15, all at 125 McKinley Ave.
CAROLYN BOSTICK/Coeur d'Alene Press
The Smithsonian Institute traveling exhibition Spark! Places of Innovation is coming to Kellogg for six weeks from July 15 to Aug. 19 at 125 McKinley Ave., Kellogg. Spark! Places of Innovation exhibition on display in Priest River.
Carolyn Bostick has worked for the Coeur d’Alene Press since June 2023. She covers Shoshone County and Coeur d'Alene. Carolyn previously worked in Utica, New York at the Observer-Dispatch for almost seven years before briefly working at The Inquirer and Mirror in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Since she moved to the Pacific Northwest from upstate New York in 2021, she's performed with the Spokane Shakespeare Society for three summers. | July 4, 2023 1:05 AM
KELLOGG — A traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution is coming to the Silver Valley. Spark! Places of Innovation is a Museum on Main Street exhibition focused on touting local stories of innovation across social, cultural, artistic or technical boundaries in rural communities.
To herald the opening of the exhibit, the Silver Valley Economic Development Corporation is hosting weekly Front Porch Conversations beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, and Spark Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 15, all at 125 McKinley Ave., Kellogg.
The Silver Valley Economic Development Corporation initially applied in April 2022 through the Idaho Humanities Council for a grant to bring the exhibition to Kellogg.
When Kellogg was chosen to host the Spark exhibition, Silver Valley Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Paige Olsen went to Boise to learn more about the details and returned feeling extremely validated by the framing of small communities like Kellogg within the display.
The exhibition is more than just a series of historic items of note installed in a gallery. Spark has a living legacy component. Digital stories, videos, photos and objects create a layered viewing experience meant to celebrate and build up rural communities by identifying unique challenges, successes, and innovative solutions that they have produced.
Being able to adapt to change and obstacles that the area has faced, especially the Bunker Hill environmental cleanup and forging ahead to carve out a dynamic cultural identity as proud residents of the Silver Valley is something highlighted by both the Spark exhibition itself and the Front Porch Conversations that will host talks with notable residents throughout the six-week stay of the Spark exhibit.
“This was meant to be. That’s exactly what Kellogg is. It will be a positive thing for our area and a draw to the Uptown district,” Olsen said. “We decided to have a grand opening for it called the Spark Festival. So we’re going to have vendors and drinks, and a ribbon cutting for the exhibit.”
After the six weeks on display in Kellogg, the exhibition will move on to Hillsboro, Ill., Winchester, Ky., and Three Rivers, Mich., as the next stops on its tour.
During Spark Festival, the business district on McKinley Avenue will be closed off as food trucks, vendors selling wares and organizations with resources to share kick off the celebration of the Smithsonian exhibition coming to Kellogg in style. There is still time to sign up as a vendor for the event, and there are no vendor fees required.
The Front Porch Conversations series opens with a talk by former Idaho state senator and Silver Valley native Mike Blackbird.
If you go
Front Porch Conversations:
When: 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays, July 12 through Aug. 16
Where: 125 McKinley Ave., Kellogg
Speakers:
July 12: Senator Mike Blackbird
July 19: Mayor Mac Pooler
July 26: Mike Peacock
August 2: Juli Zook and Mike Pierce
August 9: Duane Little and Jerry White
August 16: Paul and Carol Roberts
Spark Festival:
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 15
Where: 125 McKinley Ave., Kellogg
For more information, or to apply as a vendor, email director@silvervalleyedc.com.
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