Keeney & Basford helps us visit Frederick

Even though the weather did not cooperate the community of Frederick, MD still braved the rain to visit us. Our friends at Keeney & Basford Funeral Home made this visit to possible. Their historic funeral home sits right in the heart of downtown, not too far from the lovely creek that runs through the city. We would have loved to have been set up at their facility but I'm not sure that we could even have fit down the street. Luckily these guys were able to invite us to a local church's lot. It's kind of nice to have all the room in the world to park sometimes.

We were joined by members and staff of the Maryland National Guard's Honor Guard. I felt bad for them, with the rain coming most of the day they were stuck under a tent.

Celebrating 25 Years with Pritts Funeral Home

Celebrating an anniversary is always fun but when there's catering involved, sign me up!!! There are defiantly some perks to this job and visiting a place like Westminster with a wonderful host like Kyle Pritts makes for an unforgettable weekend. The Pritts Funeral Home of Westminster, MD celebrated 25 years of service at their location and the community came out to share. We heard so many stories of the deep connection they have to the Pritts staff and the community in general.

Our event started with a unadvertised day for a local retirement community, this was a way to let the residents view the exhibit without the rush of area visitors. It was touching to see all the hugs and thank yous exchanged from the staff and guests to Kyle.



The city of Westminster held a few surprises for us too, the rolling hills and wonderful historic downtown made an evening stroll a special treat. Not to mention how well we feed ourselves.

Pritt's then hosted a large party for the rest of the area, including food, giveaways and a Baltimore Ravens Fan-mobile. All day visitors lines up to tour us and to see the funeral home. The had to have a staff member outside to help park cars. The wind kept no one away, I know this will be an unforgettable event for us and I hope for all of Westminster.

NFDA Advocacy Summit

Anytime we can join the NFDA for an event is a treat but doing so at the foot of our nation’s capitol is a unique experience. I don’t think many enjoy starting their workday at 4:00 AM but in order to be cleared by capitol police, that is just what we did. After a once over by the k9 unit and a good chat with officers starting their early morning shift it was time to open up Reflections for attendees of the 2010 NFDA Advocacy Summit in Washington DC. Sitting next to the reflecting pool below the statue of General Grant we were visited by several Congressional Reps and their staffs as well as government employees out enjoying the pleasant weather, the media and hundreds of people who were visiting Washington DC from around the country and literally from around the world.

Being just a few hundred feet from capitol steps and where the tour buses drop off has its advantages; those waiting to be picked up took a few moments to take in the exhibit.

This is will be a lasting memory for Josh and I, it’s going to be hard to top this one.

McMinn County Living Heritage Museum

Guess you all might want to hear from the driver every once in a while. It sure is nice to be on the road again, and headed south! We left the snow and slush behind us in Detroit and headed for Tennessee. Abigail abandoned me and went on a vacation to Mexico with some of her pals. Not to worry though! Frank Lorbach hopped in the truck with me and we headed off to do a 3 day event at the McMinn County Living Heritage Museum in Athens TN.

This local museum was quite impressive with more than 7000 artifacts in their collection! Its exhibits portrayed daily life and artifacts from different time periods throughout the county's history. We had a nice show and had a surprising number of veterans and their families come visit us. The area has a strong tradition of military service. It was a rewarding experience to receive their appreciation for the exhibit.

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln

Each year the city of Danville, IL has a special way to wish their hometown hero a Happy Birthday. Abraham Lincoln practiced law in that area for many years and to celebrate they host an annual Birthday Card contest. This year found more then 400 entrants, on Sunday the Vermilion County Museum hosted a party for all the participants. The winners were announced and birthday cake was served. This is an annual happening to Danville and we found it to be the perfect place to celebrate Abe.

Here you can see a collection of the top finishers, I was blown away by the creativity and construction.

New Content Coming

As Reflections prepares to start it's next season on tour, new content will be released. I am going to keep is secret until we launch but look for added features and new display. We are very excited around here, we are hustling and bustling to book shows for next year.

If you are looking at adding Reflections to your schedule please get a hold of the team here at MRA for information.

Look forward to seeing you all this year.

Celebrating the Holidays With Parkersburg

We had a very special opportunity this December to visit Parkersburg and Vienna, WV, taking part in their Holiday parades. It is always a unique day for us to take part in a parade and then open up for guests. Thanks to Lambert-Tatman Funeral Homes we made the last show of the season a great one. Both communities had wonderful turnouts to their very different parades. With pleasant weather and tons of floats families of all sizes joined us.
After the festivities we opened the exhibit to the public and Lambert-Tatman's south Parkersburg location. More then 300 guests came by to visit us and the staff of the funeral home.