If you happen to be in the Chicago area, the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Waukegan, Illinois will be hosting a 101st birthday celebration for Ray on Saturday, August 21, 2021, from 1 pm to 8 pm. And at 6 pm that day, actor Paul McComas will be doing a performance of DANDELION WINE at the Museum. The cost to attend his performance is $5.00. To learn more and to purchase tickets for the DANDELION WINE performance, just click on the link below:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/d...tickets-165574205907

That is so great! We visited Waukegan a few years ago (following our son's USN ceremonies at the Naval Station of the Great Lakes). We walked the Ravine and truly travelled back in time - remembering reading the story to our two boys at bedtime, many years earlier! I wish we could attend!

From Waukegan's Ray Bradbury Experience Museum: the great actor Joe Mantegna, star of THE WONDERFUL ICE CREAM SUIT on both the stage and in the film, shares his memories of Ray Bradbury and wishes him a happy 101st birthday. Just click on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A38hcAukeLA

What "wonderful" and gracious comments from Mr. Joeseph Mantegna!
For anyone who has not viewed Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, treat yourself to an entertaining famliy film!

It was a regular part of RB studies in my classes...and teens always loved it!!

On Saturday, October 30, 2021, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Waukegan, Illinois will be presenting "A Very Bradbury Halloween". Admission is free.The event will include live readings from Ray's books THE HALLOWEEN TREE, DANDELION WINE and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. Click on the link below to access the Museum's website:

https://raybradburyexperiencemuseum.org

From yesterday's Chicago Tribune, an article about how a grant will allow Waukegan students, through a partnership with the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum, to learn about native son Ray Bradbury:

"Edith Smith began leading the effort to desegregate Waukegan’s schools in 1965, the same year former U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., was beaten on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the fight for civil rights nationally.

When the former Daniel Webster Middle School was officially renamed the Edith Smith Middle School last summer, Principal Yvonne Brown said she wanted students to learn about “greatness in our backyard,” studying people from Waukegan who achieved prominence.

Smith students will learn more at school about Waukegan native and famed author Ray Bradbury through a partnership between the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum and Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, thanks to a $5,000 grant the museum received from Illinois Humanities.

Sandy Petroshius, the museum’s committee chair, said the grant funding the museum’s partnership with the school comes from money allocated for coronavirus pandemic relief from the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts.

Mark Hallet, the director of grant programs for Illinois Humanities, said the grant for the Bradbury museum is part of more than $1 million his organization was able to distribute throughout the state for cultural programs.

'This gives the next generation of young people the chance to learn about a local celebrated author,' Hallet said. 'This will help the museum and local public schools.'

Petroshius said the school reached out last summer to see if the museum might participate in the summer school enrichment program. It did not work at the time, but when she got notice of the grant in September, she saw the opportunity to do much more.

'The students will be able to learn what Ray Bradbury was all about in a number of ways,' Petroshius said. 'They’ll read about Ray Bradbury over a number of weeks. They may publish a book with drawings about what they learn. This will give them an understanding of the person he was.'

Though Bradbury died in 2012 at 91, Petroshius said his work remains timely. The movie made from one of his most popular novels, 'Fahrenheit 451,' was remade in 2018 by HBO. It paints a picture of a future America where books are banned and firefighters burn the ones they find.

'His books are relevant today,' Petroshius said. 'The issues then are still being talked about now. His work is being discussed today.'

Nichol Mangino, Smith’s assistant principal, said learning more about Bradbury will give students an opportunity to learn about someone from Waukegan who became famous around the world. He can be a role model to today’s youngsters.

Mangino said the program will have several parts to it, including a trip to the Genesee Theatre to watch movies stemming from Bradbury’s books — he wrote screenplays for many — and a club where students can delve deeper into his writing.

'This will give students a chance to learn a lot more about Ray Bradbury and his books,' Mangino said. 'We’ll go to the museum and the theater. We’ll be reading his books, and writing about them.'

Petroshius said the students will get a chance to read books like 'Dandelion Wine' in which Bradbury wrote about childhood in the fictitious Midwestern city of Greentown. Greentown is the name the author gave in his writing to the Waukegan of his youth.

A variety of books will be introduced to the students. Mangino said they will be age-appropriate and at different levels of reading skill to give as many children as possible the opportunity to experience Bradbury’s literature.

'We want special education students, and those not reading at grade level yet, to enjoy the program too,' Mangino said. 'We want them to read, comprehend and enjoy.'

While reading Bradbury’s books will be part of the curriculum, those who want more can join the after-school club. Mangino said participants will not only be reading, but writing as well as they learn more about the author."

St. Patrick's Day this year is on March 17, 2022. And a few days later, on March 19, 2022 from 1 pm to 3 pm, the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Waukegan, Illinois will holding a Ray Bradbury Irish Celebration. This is a very fitting celebration, given Ray's experiences in Ireland while writing the screenplay for MOBY DICK (and all of Ray's writings that resulted from those experiences). The festivities includes "Tales of Ray in Ireland" by story teller Orty Ortwein, and traditional Irish music by Belfast-born guitarist Jim McVeigh. The event will take place at Nightshade and Dark's Pandemonium Brewing Company, 216 W Clayton St, in Waukegan. Erin go bragh!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Richard,

The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Waukegan, Illinois has announced that there will be a new exhibit starting August 20, 2022 called "Ray Bradbury Imagination on Fire." The Museum will be open from 11 am to 9 pm on that date, with a special presentation at 7 pm called "Treasures of the Ray Bradbury Collection."

https://raybradburyexperiencemuseum.org

If you would like to attend the "Treasures of the Ray Bradbury Collection" presentation, scheduled for 7 pm on August 20, 2022 at the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Waukegan, Illinois, you will need to pre-register. You can do so by clicking on the link below:

https://calendar.waukeganpl.org/event/9324642

FYI, the event will be repeated on August 22, 2022 at 5:30 pm at the Waukegan Public Library.

This Saturday, August 27, 2022, the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Waukegan, Illinois will present "The Foghorn". As the Museum stated in its announcement of the event: "Actor and literary scholar Paul McComas introduces, performs, and leads discovery-and-discussion of Ray Bradbury's unforgettable (and shivers-inducing!) maritime-mystery story, first published in 1951 by the Saturday Evening Post. 'The Foghorn' serves as an apt illustration of Shakespeare's contention that 'There are more things in heaven and earth' than we dare dream of -- as well as a strangely poignant meditation on the frequent Bradbury themes of loneliness, longing, and belonging."

The suggested donation for adults is $5.00. Students and children can attend for free.

To make a reservation to attend the event, just send an e-mail to: info@raybradburymuseum.org

The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Ray's boyhood home town of Waukegan, Illinois has announced that the donated space at which it has been located, 13 N. Genesee Street, is no longer available. This is sad news, as it was a great site. As soon as information about the Museum's new location is announced, I will try to post it on the Board.

Here is a recent article from the Lake County News-Sun newspaper on the closing and future relocation of The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum:

Ray Bradbury Experience Museum looking for new home; ‘They were growing, and needed more square footage for their exhibits’

By Steve Sadin

Lake County News-Sun

Dec 01, 2022 at 6:56 pm

No longer housed in downtown Waukegan, the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum is looking for ways to fulfill its mission of honoring the famed writer in his hometown without a permanent location.

Sandy Petroshius, the museum committee chair, said its goal since the organization’s founding in 2017 is creating an interactive museum honoring Bradbury in his hometown, where he first developed his love of reading and began to hone his literary skills.

The committee is looking for opportunities to continue pursuing its objective of educating people about Bradbury and his roots in Waukegan, which he made the setting for some of his books, calling it Green Town.

“Hundreds of visitors have attended our programs, exhibits and events virtually and in person,” Petroshius said. “Continuing to find ways to engage and educate people about Ray Bradbury and his roots in Waukegan are on the table. We are going to focus on programs.”

Originally located on the first floor of the Greater Waukegan Development Coalition — now known as the GWDC — Eddie Soto, the director of the Lake County Tech Hub and a resident of the space, said the museum outgrew the first-floor space there.

“They were growing, and needed more square footage for their exhibits,” Soto said. “They outgrew their space on the ground floor. They have a lot more (Bradbury items) in their possession now.”

Some of the newer items Petroshius said the museum received include signed pictures by Bradbury taken when he was writing the screenplay for “Moby Dick,” and the issues of Playboy magazine where Bradbury’s novel “Fahrenheit 451″ first appeared in serial form in 1953.
“There was a connection between Ray Bradbury and High Hefner,” Petroshius said, referring to the magazine’s publisher. “‘Fahrenheit 451′ was about burning books, and Playboy was getting blowback because of the content of its centerfolds.”
Among some of the other Bradbury items are a brick from his home in California, and a piece of yellow stucco from the Waukegan home where he spent his childhood. Petroshius said it is important people know Bradbury’s connection to his hometown.
“Many people don’t know he was from Waukegan,” Petroshius said. “The Green Town of ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ and ‘Dandelion Wine’ is Waukegan.”

 

The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum has announced that it is closing permanently. A lack of donors and the inability to find a permanent and suitable location in downtown Waukegan did it in. Very sad!

Richard, I just read this from Dr. Phil Nichols' site. Dr. Nichols also indicated: "Waukegan does, of course, still have its magnificent sculpture of Ray, and the city's historic Carnegie Library (currently being renovated) will have an area displaying books from Ray's personal collection.
See comments section below for the full text of the RBEM announcement.
(And please note that the Ray Bradbury Center in Indianapolis continues unaffected; the RBEM and RBC are not connected, except in spirit.)"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1642220119366333/

Let's hope the Carnegie Library or the RBCenter at UIPUI seize upon this opportunity to somehow accommodate any treasures which may have been a part of the RB Experience Museum's holdings. I would think Carnegie Library has the potential to become a central attraction to Waukegan economic development plans when updates have been completed.

Events, speakers, festivals, and related performances could become apart of annual presentations on varied literary and related artistic topics. Mr. Bradbury's themes and historic "stuff" would, of course, remain at the core of all scheduled events.

This is really awful news. I always wanted to go there.