First Wewa history day brings community together

Under tents behind the Charles Whitehead Public Library in Wewahitchka, members of the community gathered last Saturday to take in some local history and catch up over live music and free food.  

The event – Wewahitchka’s first Local History Day – has been in the works for several months after organizers began brainstorming ideas to preserve local history.  

“I’m glad to see that so many people came out,” said regional libraries director and the event’s organizer Mimi Minnick. “There’s a rich history here, and it is great to see the community take pride in that.” 

Minnick said the library hopes to turn Wewahitchka History Day into an annual event. It is just one of several efforts the library is making to preserve and celebrate local history in the area. 

In October, librarians met with members of the Wewahitchka Historical Group to brainstorm ideas for a new exhibit highlighting the community’s past.  

“We’ve been working on, some of you may have heard, a photo scanning project, encouraging people to bring their historical photos in so that we can scan them for research purposes or for use in a future exhibit,” Minnick said in a meeting at the library in late October.  

“And we’re working on this larger idea of a 100th anniversary exhibit – either the 100th anniversary of Wewahitchka or the 100th anniversary of Gulf County.” 

An early version of this exhibit was on display at Local History Day, with newspapers and maps hanging from the walls. Guests meandered through the library to piece together how donated or loaned artifacts fit into the town’s history and what belonged to which family. 

Guests also enjoyed free food, children’s crafts and activities, live music, a raffle and good company.