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To 2 big Albert Lea events that help teach area children about history.

Anyone who has grown up in Albert Lea in recent decades likely has fond memories of their time with two big history events as a child: Discover History at the Freeborn County Historical Museum and the Big Island Rendezvous & Festival at Bancroft Bay Park.

Albert Lea was lucky to have both happening this week, and we want to give a huge kudos to all those people who make both events possible.

Discover History, in its 26th year, started last week and gives juniors and seniors in teacher Jim Haney’s class at Albert Lea High School the chance to research various parts of local history at the historical museum and then present what they’ve learned to elementary school students from the area.

This year, the program had seven elementary schools participating.

The Big Island Rendezvous & Festival, in its 37th year, starts out each year with two Education Days, where schools from public, private and home schools come to take part. This year about 2,700 students were expected to participate from at least 50 schools.

The Rendezvous is the Midwest’s largest historical reenactment of early America and features various re-enactors, such as blacksmiths, woodworkers, farmers, candlemakers, silversmiths, spinners, weavers, hunters and soldiers, among others. It opens to the public Saturday and Sunday.

Both of these events provide hands-on opportunities for the students and make learning fun.

Our students are lucky to have the chance to take part in these activities, and we thank all those who support them financially or otherwise.

To Albert Lea Community Theatre.

Albert Lea Community Theatre opened its first play of the new season this week with “Steel Magnolias” that runs both this weekend and four days next week.

Based off of the popular movie with the same name, the story is set in a beauty salon in Louisiana, where all the ladies who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. At the heart of the story, however, is the theme of friendship.

The actresses in the play do a fantastic job in their roles, and we were impressed with their preparation for the show.

Albert Lea is lucky to have such a strong community theater in town, with talented actors and actresses who again and again produce top-notch shows.

Congratulations to the cast, director and crew for this show, and we look forward to seeing what else is in store the remainder of the season.

Up next will be the classic “A Christmas Carol” in December, which is sure to be an audience favorite during the holiday season.