Museum Village plans spring events

Monroe —Museum Village in Monroe is planning a number of events for spring. In April, the museum will host Girl Scout Days. On Saturday, April 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., museum staff and volunteers will lead Junior Scouts in work on their Ceramics and Clay badge, learning about historic and modern wheels and kilns. Each girl will make a pot or tile to bring home and will experiment with glazes on a piece that will become a part of the museum collection. The next Saturday, April 12, the museum will offer Brownies the opportunity to earn their Listening to the Past badge, with historic games, storytelling and a visit to the log cabin. This is the fourth annual Girl Scout Days offered by the museum. The Zerbini Family Circus returns to Museum Village for Memorial Day weekend. Five performances will be offered: Friday, May 25, 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27, 2 and 4:30 p.m. Truly an Olde Tyme Circus event, this intimate performance of aerial feats, masterful skills and physical daring will entertain all ages. The family-owned and operated circus has been touring for more than 15 years with acrobats, clowns, animal acts, and magical illusions. On June 7 and 8, the Orange County Gem and Mineral Society takes over the Green at Museum Village with a display of rocks. Gems, mineral, and semi-precious stones, from the useful to the dazzling, highlight the museum’s penchant for natural history. The village has been home to the Orange County Gem and Mineral Society for decades, and will offer a look at its own collection, much of which has never been publicly presented, including archaic handmade stone tools. On Saturday, June 28, the museum will present Orange County Bounty. Visitors can start their growing season right, with a day at village, going to the booths of local growers, purchasing seeds and seedlings, getting their hands dirty in the flax field or the herb garden. A highlight of the day will be a presentation by editor Shawn Dell Joyce. The concept of “eating within a 100-mile radius” has inspired a collaboration between artists, chefs, and farmers to produce a local foods cookbook featuring art and recipes of the finest and freshest that Orange County has to offer. Artists collected recipes and family histories of the farmers, and painted each farm “en plein air” for the cookbook. Visitors can bring home a signed copy to cook up local feasts year-round. Museum Village is located on Route 17M in Monroe. For more information, visit www.museumvillage.org.