2008 Membership Meetings – General membership meetings are held five times a year, three times in the spring and twice in the fall, at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church at the corner of Beaver Street and Fourth Avenue in Beaver. Each one features a guest speaker on a fascinating topic of historical interest. The schedule for 2008 includes:

• Feb. 19, 2008 - Morgan Carriage Works

• March 18, 2008 - World War II flying ace Dale Karger

• April 22, 2008 - Humble Origins to Rich Traditions: The Michael Baker Corporation Story

• Nov. 15, 2008 - Charter Day Dinner to be held at Seven Oaks Country Club. Cocktails followed by dinner. (This is a change from the originally scheduled date of Oct. 25.)

• Nov. 18, 2008 - Annual meeting and program.

Rotating Museum Exhibit – Each year, the Museum features a new exhibit of appropriate historical interest. Displays in 2008 will include Beaver's Greatest Generation: Honoring Local Heroes of World War II (through June 22); Humble Origins to Rich Traditions: the Story of Michael Baker Corporation (opens June 28); and Holiday Gingerbread.

Past displays have featured a celebration of the life and work of Beaver's Priit Vesilind; sports heroes and musicians of Beaver and the Beaver Valley; Beaver’s record-setting Mayor, the late Robert Linn; firefighting in Beaver; and the actual pistols used in a fatal 1770s duel between Gen. Lachlan McIntosh, builder of Fort McIntosh in Beaver, and Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Other rotating exhibits have featured Beaver College, early firearms and model riverboats.

Annual Beautification Awards – The Heritage Foundation annually sponsors its prestigious Restoration and Beautification Award, now known as the Harry S. Phillips Award in memory of our founder. Awards in the form of a handsome bronze plaque are presented to the owners for residential and commercial buildings which have been meticulously restored to their original appearance. Past winners have been the Todd Funeral Home on Third Street which was restored after a disastrous fire (seen here, 2006) and the John F. Dravo house on River Road (2005).

2008 Holiday Events – The Heritage Foundation is an active participant in Beaver’s celebrations of Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, and is the sponsor of the annual Garrison Day sale, a craft show and sale that annually draws more than 10,000 visitors.

Memorial Day – May 26, 2008 - The annual Memorial Day observance in Beaver involves a parade on Third Street followed by a stirring ceremony of remembrance at the Beaver Cemetery. Guest speakers in past years have included Steve Grossman, principal of the Dutch Ridge Elementary School of the Beaver Area School District; Col. Edward Sudol of the Junior ROTC program at the Beaver Area School District; Rev. Carl Neely, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church; Dr. Bette Landman, President of Arcadia University; and Judge Peter O. Steege of the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas.

Garrison Day – June 14, 2008 - The annual Garrison Day Show and Sale, held in the beautiful green central parks of Beaver, is one of the community's largest, most exciting and visible events each year. Garrison Day, named in honor of the military garrison stationed at Fort McIntosh in the late 1700s, involves hundreds of arts and crafts and antiques vendors, a variety of food and refreshments, an art show, music by the Fort McIntosh Fife and Drum Corps, and other lively entertainment. In 2007, look for an animal petting zoo for children, and the scrumptious pancake breakfast at nearby Park Presbyterian Church. For information on how to obtain exhibit or food vendor space, contact our legendary event coordinator Ethel Icenhour.

Fourth of July – This year, on Sunday, July 6, 2008, we again will help sponsor a free patriotic music concert at the gazebo in Beaver's central parks featuring the renowned River City Brass Band. Notable Independence Day celebrations over the years have included a popular “walking tour” of the Beaver Cemetery and a tour of notable local buildings of historic interest. The cemetery tours, led by Heritage Foundation historians, have visited the graves of Beaver notables Senator Matthew Stanley Quay, industrialist John Dravo, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Daniel Agnew and other fascinating personalities of the past. The very first cemetery walking tour, conducted to high acclaim, was held in 1978 and repeated in 1985, 2002 and 2005.