Director’s Update – Fall 2018

I am delighted to report that even though it took 68 years to get the first cup of coffee at the Randall Museum’s Café Josephine, it was well worth the wait… After crossing many “T”s and dotting many “I”s, the Randall’s Café Josephine, had its grand opening on Saturday, June 23rd. We celebrated this momentous occasion with live music, and complementary cookies for visitors. Besides filling this obvious gap in our basic services, we think that providing a permanent source of healthy, nutritious food and drink at the Randall will have a transformative effect on our ability to expand our program base and attract even more visitors.

Establishing the Café has been a sustained effort by the Randall Museum Friends and the museum staff. The Friends established a Café Committee and spent many hours interviewing potential café operators and getting advice from many people who had traveled this path before us. The Friends also raised the funds needed to make the creation of this transformative amenity possible. The staff helped tremendously with changing a modest meeting room into a warm and appealing Café venue. In the end, we also think we have found the ideal partner in our café operator, Sahara O’Hanlon. It was clear to us from the outset that Sahara knew the Randall well, and shared many of our values. She is deeply committed to environmental stewardship and sustainable food practices. Imagine our pleasure at also discovering that Sahara is a mean cook in her own right. This important quality was confirmed when she brought a sampling of proposed menu items to one of
our early meetings. We are looking forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship with Sahara and her staff. We hope that our visitors will share our enthusiasm for this long needed amenity.

Another new amenity at the Randall, the STEM lab, has also been getting rave reviews for the programs and also for our excellent instructors, Steven Trimmer and Joel Dream. If you want to learn to use a laser cutter or delve into the “internet of things”, there may be a hands-on program for you in our catalog. I should also mention that our summer camps are now in full swing, and making use of the new program spaces and exhibits. Kudos go to Julie Dodd Tetzlaff and her staff for creating another exciting selection of unforgettable summer experiences for children.