Chamber talks about Smithsonian exhibit

A large crowd learned about the Smithsonian traveling exhibit that will be coming to the Chester Public Library Sept. 8-Oct. 20 during a the Feb. 21 Chester Chamber of Commerce community meeting at the Chester Eagles Club.

The exhibit, titled "Crossroads: Change In Rural America," will be touring Illinois in conjunction with the state Bicentennial. The Chester exhibit will be the first of the exhibits, with others to follow in Winchester, Lake Shelbyville, Marshall and Sycamore, according to Tammy Grab, executive librarian at the Chester Public Library.

Serving as co-curator for the event will be Dr. Debra Reid, a Randolph County native and current curator of agriculture and the environment at the Henry Ford museum in Michigan.

"It's appropriate that the Chester Public Library help launch the new Museum on Main Street Exhibition," said Dr. Reid. "Chester sits on the mighty Mississippi, the heart if a transportation system that defined the nation."