Empire Area Museum features Pelky school buses

From staff reports

The Empire Area Museum invites you to check out its new exhibits this year, including Ted Pelky’s model school bus collection, Russell Van Houzen’s woodcarvings and Helen Witt’s decorated eggs.

Pelky started drawing buses at age 5 and building them at age 10. He works off school bus brochures and photographs. Pelky was born in 1957 in Traverse City and spent much of his time in later years in Empire, visiting here each summer from 1983 through 1998. He built an estimated 130 buses while in Empire visiting his family. After the buses would get old, he would select a few each year and have his Dad burn them, keeping the wheels for the next project. Each bus took about 20 hours to complete. They are made out of poster board and some plastic trim and plastic wheels.

Pelky donated most of his remaining Empire collection (23 of 29 buses) to the Empire Museum in February. He now lives in Brunswick, Ga., and continues to make buses to this day. The new buses have a model airplane type finish that, Pelky says, make them appear more realistic than his earlier models.

The museum has received grand additions to its Russell Van Houzen collection from the family. Van Houzen was a longtime retiree of Glen Lake and a world-class carver in later life. Many of his carvings and reference birds are in the museum today. Recent additions include the loan of a beautiful hand-carved swan and the donation of a beautifully carved nutcracker figurine as well as carved Santa Clauses. Van Houzen was a longtime supporter of “Museum Heritage Days”, demonstrating his wonderful skill at carving each year.

The museum’s fantastic collection of decorated eggs is part of the more than 6,000 eggs decorated and sold by Helen Witt (1919-2005) between 1970 and 1995. Bill, her husband (1915-1997), did all the cutting and hinge installation and Helen did the rest. Much of this work was done while living in Empire from 1971 through 1979 owning “Witt’s End” (Tiffany’s today). Enjoy the fantastic detail and beauty of each egg. Eggs used are: pullet, chicken, turkey, double-yoked turkey, ostrich and emu. The egg collection is on loan from their son Bill and Sharon Witt.

The Empire Area Museum is open weekends from Labor Day through Heritage Day from 1-4 p.m. Groups by appointment call (231) 326-5568 or (231) 326-5519.