ENTERTAINMENT

Morris Museum hosts the Victorial Family Festival

JENNIFER L. NELSON
CORRESPONDENT

This weekend, you and your family can travel back in time to the Victorian Era at the Morris Museum.

The Victorian Family Festival will take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The festival is included with regular museum admission: free for members, or $7 per child and $10 per adult.

“The Morris Museum has a rich history of family festivals. We offered Victorian Family Festivals a few years ago, and they proved to be very popular — so, we decided to have another one,” said Andrea Marshall, family festival coordinator for the Morris Museum.

The festival was designed to offer visitors the opportunity to enjoy old-time activities that are as enjoyable today as they were in the 19th century. Among the afternoon’s activities include carnival games and strolling magicians.

“We hope visitors realize that they can enjoy family time while partaking in simple, tried-and-true activities!” Marshall said.

Families will be invited to pose in period clothing for a portrait, and participate in a Victorian Family Sing-Along around a foot-pump piano: an Aeolian Duo-Art player piano that’s included in the museum’s Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata.

“We always hope that someone will come to us and say, ‘You know, my grandpa had one of these music machines,’ ” she said. “Seeing and sharing brings history home, and gives it a personal, family, and cultural perspective.”

The headquarters of the Morris County Historical Society, Acorn Hall in Morristown lent period-style clothing to the Morris Museum for the photos; visitors will be encouraged to dress up and have their photo e-mailed to them.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to create crafts such as designing a collage postcard and creating a tussie-mussie, a small flower bouquet.

While enjoying the festival, families will also have the opportunity to experience everything the museum has to offer this summer, such as the popular Mega Model Trains display and the Art of Magic and Illusion exhibition, which will remain at the museum through Aug. 15.

“What amused and delighted people over a century ago can still amuse and delight them today,” Marshall said. “Even though technology is always advancing, the basic interests behind the technology doesn’t really change all that much.”

VICTORIAN FAMILY FESTIVAL

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown

COST: Regular museum admission applies; $7 for children, $10 for adults, free for members

INFORMATION: www.morrismuseum.org or 973-971-3700