ROGERS — The sounds of Christmas carols echoed throughout the Rogers Historical Museum on Sunday.

The museum held its annual Holiday Open House, featuring arts and crafts for children, refreshments, a choir from Heritage High School and the Hawkins House decorated with a vintage World War I Christmas look.

This is the 10th year for the museum to hold a holiday open house, said Gaye Bland, museum director.

“They’ve had a Christmas open house for years,” Bland said. “But we moved it to the week after Thanksgiving for aholiday open house. We really like holding it this time of year.”

Tours of the Hawkins House run until Jan. 2. There is no charge.

Running the tours that length of time give people plenty of time to take in the house, Bland said.

“If you have people visiting through the holidays, you can bring them in for a nice visit,” Bland said.

The open house typically draws anywhere from 150 to 350 visitors, Bland added.

“This year, attendance looks like it’s going to be pretty good,” Bland said.

Dusty Rhoades and his wife were taking in their first visit Sunday. Rhoades said he and his wife are new to the area.

“It’s a nice setup,” Rhoades said of the museum. “They’ve got some nice displays and they’ve done it up real nice.”

Meanwhile, the Fox family was visiting the arts and crafts portion of the open house. The section taught children how to make holiday decorations from the World War I era.

“This is our third year to go,” said Shirley Fox, as her two sons Aaron and Cody did the crafting. “We really like it. It’s fun. It’s something for the boys to do that has a little variety.”

The museum, located at 322 S. Second St. in Rogers, is a selfguided, hands-on museum open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Hawkins House tours will be conducted with a guide.

News, Pages 8 on 12/02/2009