Five-year-old Celia Wilson-Patino likes polka dots.
She told her mother, Ana Patino-Osorno, this as she created a polka-dotted patriotic magnet at the Northeast Georgia History Center Sunday.
To carry on with September’s patriotic theme, the history center decided to host “Patriot’s Path” as its monthly Family Sunday event.
“Today we have hands-on activities that are patriotic,” said Julie Carson, education and volunteer coordinator at the Northeast Georgia History Center. “We will also lead hikes down to the square to look at monuments.”
A scavenger hunt was also set up for the Freedom Garden and family pictures could be taken. Northeast Georgia Eye
Clinic and Laser Center paid for all of the supplies for the event, making it free to the public.
Charles “Trey” Wilson, Celia’s father, said they have enjoyed some of the Family Sundays in the past.
“When we heard that they were doing something to celebrate the memorial, we wanted to come out and see what it was about,” Wilson said. “We appreciate what we have now by appreciating what people had before us, and I think the history center does a terrific job of showcasing that with these kinds of events.”
Wilson said the Family Sundays offer a lot of teaching moments for him and Celia.
“She will ask me a thousand questions even before we get halfway down the hall,” Wilson said. “I don’t know that I have all the answers, but this is a chance to try and fill her in on some things.”
Carson hopes kids who attend the event will feel proud to be Americans.
“While our primary mission is to preserve our past, our patriotism is a large part of the past,” Carson said.
The history center also announced the winners of its Taste of History essay and poster contest. The theme for the contest was what patriotism really means.
The winners of the poster contest include Rea DeVera, Maddie Woodard and Jared Allen, and the winners of the essay contest include Sally Justus, Cole Burchardt and Hannah Purcell.
Clint Daniel was the official tour guide on Sunday, taking families around the center of Gainesville to look at different monuments.
“They will be able to look at them and read them, and if they want to, they can make rubbings of those monuments,” said
Daniel who believes that when you learn history, you find out what not to do.
“It is like the old saying ‘paint is wet — don’t touch it,’ but some people go ahead and do it anyway,” Daniel said. “You have to learn from experience, but hopefully you can learn from other people’s experiences.”