MUSEUM OPEN FOR HOLIDAYS

The Cape River Heritage Museum, decorated for Christmas, will open with a holiday season for the first time ever today.

"Count the Santas" is the theme for the museum, 538 Independence, Santas dressed in period costumes up through the present time and Santas from different countries are on display.

"We have Santas all over the place," said Patty Mulkey, a volunteer at the museum.

"This is the first time we've done Christmas at the museum on a big scale," she said.

The front of the museum features Victorian arrangements, a Victorian Santa and sleigh, a small Victorian tree and a larger tree with Victorian ornaments and a Charles Dickens scene. Victorian angels also decorate the room.

A Santaland Express toy train whirls around the track in the River Room. Mulkey said the train display features farms, trees, a skating pond and even a car wreck.

Even the pilot house of the Cape Girardeau steamboat will be decorated in the spirit of the season.

The museum is part of the Bicentennial Historic Christmas Tour, which begins today from 1-4 p.m.

Other dates for the tour are Saturday, Dec. 11-12, and 18-19. Each tour is from 1-4 p.m.

In addition to participating in the tour, the museum will be open Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays beginning at 11 a.m.

Mulkey said the museum is now paying a worker to man the museum these regular hours. As a result, she said, attendance at the museum is up.

Mulkey said some holiday decorations were furnished by Louisianna Dock Company, a barge line in Cairo Ill., and the Barlow Volunteer Fire Department in Barlow, Ky.

"We are really spreading out and generating support from a lot of areas," she said.

"We have some neat handmade ornaments for sale for $1," Mulkey added. "Two ladies worked all year long to make these something for everyone to be able to buy."

In addition, the museum is selling cookbooks with adventures and recipes of early settlers and steamboats.