Becoming Patsy Cline, Extended into Summer 2014, Included in Festivities
Winchester, VA 09/24/13…The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) has announced that, in conjunction with the nationwide celebration Museum Day Live!, Museum admission will be free to all from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. this Saturday, September 28. Free admission includes the new exhibition, Becoming Patsy Cline, as well as a variety of family activities and a special display of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
During Museum Day Live!, museums across the country offer free admission to those presenting a Museum Day ticket, available online. According to MSV Executive Director Dana Hand Evans, the MSV is waiving this ticket requirement to allow as many people as possible to take part in Saturday’s festivities and see Becoming Patsy Cline.
Saturday’s celebration includes free admission to all Museum exhibitions and gardens, as well as free family-oriented activities. Balloon artists will make balloon creations for children from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., free pony rides will take place from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., and face- painting experts from Glitterbugz will be on site from noon until 3 p.m. Becoming Patsy Cline underwriter Grove’s Winchester Harley-Davidson will also be at the MSV with a special display of motorcycles. The Museum Café by Bonnie Blue will be open from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., and Papa John’s Pizza will be at the MSV to sell pizza by the slice during Saturday’s celebration. A free drawing will give all visitors who enter the chance to win a one-year Family Membership to the Museum (a $75 value). The drawing will take place at the conclusion of the day; winners are not required to be present.
Concurrently with announcing Saturday’s festivities, the MSV is announcing extension of Becoming Patsy Cline. Originally scheduled to close in February of 2014, the exhibition will be on view through Sunday, July 6, 2014. According to Executive Director Evans, the extension will allow as many visitors as possible to see the popular exhibition and keeps the Changing Exhibitions Gallery open while the Museum closes and readies its Shenandoah Valley Decorative Arts Gallery for a changing exhibition to open in late spring of 2014.
“We are very grateful to all our generous lenders for allowing us to keep their treasured Patsy objects on view a little longer to make this extension possible,” says Evans.
Patsy Cline (1932–1963) was the first female solo artist inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Today many consider her to be the most popular and influential female country singer in recording history. Despite a career that was cut short by her death in an airplane crash at the age of 30, Patsy Cline recorded 102 songs and three, full-length albums. Her recordings have sold millions of copies worldwide, and she has a star on Hollywood Boulevard and her own stamp with the U.S. Postal Service. Patsy Cline also has received numerous posthumous honors and has been the subject of biographies, musicals, plays, and films. Fifty years after her death, the popularity of her hit recordings, such as “Crazy,” “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” and “Sweet Dreams,” endures.
Organized by the MSV in partnership with the Winchester-based organization Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc. (CPC), Becoming Patsy Cline uses objects, rare photographs, video and audio recordings, and clothing—much of which is on first-time public display—to illustrate Patsy Cline’s Shenandoah Valley story. The exhibition describes the singer’s family history, examines her early influences, and introduces the people whose support and guidance helped Patsy realize her dream of becoming a professional singer. Becoming Patsy Cline received critical underwriting support from Grove’s Winchester Harley–Davidson, Shenandoah Country Q102, and Winchester Printers, Inc.
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV complex—which includes galleries, the Glen Burnie House, and six acres of gardens—is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. On days other than Saturday’s family day, admission to the MSV, which includes the galleries and gardens, is $10 and $8 for youth and seniors. Admission is always free to MSV Members and children age 12 and under. The Museum’s Glen Burnie House is closed until 2014 for a preservation project. Additional information is available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235.