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Tell your Arlington Heights story at open mic event

The genesis of the Arlington Heights Historical Society’s first open mic night — scheduled for Sunday, March 3, — started organically, over a soda pop at the Historical Museum’s local farmers market.

It’s where members of the historical society sell Arlington Club Beverages, based on the original late 19th-century recipes of Sass and Brother, who manufactured their soda water on what is now the museum campus grounds.

“When guests come to the farmers market, they see that soda pop — it triggers memories,” said Annette Curtis, president of the nonprofit society’s board of directors. “They start telling us about their memories of going over to the pop shop with their parents and picking up the soda pop. Usually for special occasions, it was a treat.”

Curtis and other historical society volunteers are putting the pop bottles on ice for Sunday’s event, Tell Your AH Story, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the museum, 110 W. Fremont St. Those who have lived or worked in Arlington Heights for a long time — or even a short time — are welcome to take the stage to share their memories, said Curtis, a 35-year resident.

“The volunteers of the historical society over the summers have heard so many wonderful stories about how much people loved growing up in Arlington Heights, how they’re still here, they raised their kids here — and that’s where it kind of came from,” she said of the inaugural event.

Curtis hopes the forum provides a more structured platform to sharing stories. She says each speech should be about three minutes, and she’s already enlisted a few scheduled speakers to get things going.

But walk-ins are welcome, and the event is free.

Arlington Club Beverages will be for sale at the Arlington Heights Historical Society’s inaugural open mic night Sunday, March 3, at the Historical Museum. Courtesy of Arlington Heights Historical Museum

“If anybody has a fun story to tell — it doesn’t have to be an old story, it could be a new story,” Curtis said. “It doesn’t have to be the big things. … That’s not what makes Arlington Heights great. What makes Arlington Heights great is all of the small, little, wonderful things that happen around us.”

Organizers plan to record the stories and add them to the collection the society maintains.

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