The Smithsonian Museum on Main “Home Town Teams: How Sports Shape America” exhibit will be leaving Mount Vernon in two weeks. The final day to see the exhibit will be Sunday, April 29. See it before it closes at the First Street Community Center, 221 1st St. NE, Mount Vernon.
The exhibit has been a very popular attraction with hundreds of visitors making the trip to see the exhibit’s national stories about sports and sports heroes, intermixed with local and regional stories that tell the stories of Eastern Iowa’s Home Town Teams.
Visitors to the exhibit will learn about the history of Women’s 6-on-6 basketball, the 1947 “Dream Team” from Cornell College, Dan Gable’s prolific wrestling career, the Norway baseball program, Art Pennington, Jack Trice, Tristan Wirfs, Logan Kelly, Shirley Ryan and more. Two exhibits tell the story of the Mount Vernon Marching Band and the East Buchanan marching band. Local sports stories like these and others are exhibited alongside stories of national heroes including Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Mia Hamm and the Army-Navy football rivalry.
The exhibit is open Wednesday through Sunday: Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sundays noon to 4 p.m. Other times by appointment.
Questions regarding the exhibit can be directed to Joe Jennison at (319) 210-9935 or via email at [email protected]