Agmt07 San Mateo Co. History Museum

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visitors. Most people realize that something like 30% of the people of the County have been born in another country. Far fewer realize that back in 1880, 30% of the people of the County were born in another county. Thus the immigrant experience is both topical and historical. To complement the display, late last year the Museum organized an "Immigrants Day". The committees from the various ethnic communities that helped us create the gallery assigned representatives to help us. Seven countries were represented - Ireland, China, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and the Philippines. We scheduled folk dancing on the plaza in front of our building featuring performances of all seven countries. In the rotunda we offered craft activities reminiscent of the ethnic groups for children. Upstairs we had a "taste of the seven" with representative foods. All together more than 700 people attended. Committee members and staff agreed that with better promotion, the day could have attracted twice that number - maybe more. This year we know that Via magazine will publish previews for the event. We will also use a major portion ($5,600) of the $15,000 budget for publicity. We have scheduled Immigrants Day for June 16, 2007. For this year's event, we have already scheduled the principle acts for the plaza stage. At noon we will present the Taiko Drums, at 12:30 the Murphy Irish Dancers, at 1 :00 a Portuguese dance group, at 1 :30 Mexican dancers, at 2:00 Chinese Lion Dancers, at 2:30 the Italian singing group, Anima E Core, and at 3:00 will be Filipino dancers. As an added attraction we will be trying something different. In our Atkinson Meeting Room we will be having readings by immigrant authors such as Mexican immigrant and media personality Rose Guilbault. Admission to the Museum, that day, will be cut in half, as it was last year - $2 for adults and $1 for seniors and children; kids five and under are free. Thank you in advance for your consideration and prompt response.