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If Barbara Tatom and the board of directors of the Pioneer Museum of Alabama could have scripted Pioneer Days 2023, they could not have planned a better or more successful weekend.

Pioneer Days on Friday and Saturday attracted visitors from as close as here at home to as distant as Arkansas, 1,100 in all.

‘This was the best attendance that we’ve had at Pioneer Days since I’ve started here in 2018,” said Barbara Tatom, museum director, Jeff Kervin, board chair, said “in 20 years.”

And, if the numbers weren’t enough, the response to Pioneer Days was the topping.

“All of the comments from visitors on both days were very favorable,” Tatom said. “The teachers, who came with the children, commented on how everything was so well organized, how groups moved easily from one place to the other and how informative, interesting and entertaining the demonstrators and re-enactors were.”

Tatom said the day would not have moved “almost like clockwork” had it not been for the Pike County Master Gardeners, who led the school groups to the different demonstration areas.

Tatom also expressed appreciation to Boy Scout Troop 41 for assisting with the preparation of the grounds and staff members, Jacob Burnham and Autumn Rogers, for their tireless efforts throughout the planning and carrying out of Pioneer Days 2023.

“And to members of the Troy Rotary Club and the many others who made Pioneer Days such a success,” Tatom said. “We were very proud to have Ann Marie Anderson from the Alabama State Council on Arts to come and see what we do here at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama.”

Tatom and Kervin both expressed appreciation to the Alabama State Council on the Arts for the support of Pioneer Days and other events at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama and throughout Pike County and the across the state.

Tatom said ASCA makes it possible for people of all ages to be exposed to and participate in the arts.