“Hometown Teams,” a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit that explores how sports shaped America, opens on March 9, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. in Downtown New Port Richey at 6345 Grand Boulevard for a seven-week showing. This fascinating, multimedia experience, which is free and open to the public, is being brought to New Port Richey by the nonprofit Florida Humanities Council, which partners with community organizations around the state to bring high-quality cultural programs to Floridians.
Accompanying this national exhibit at 6345 Grand Boulevard will be special local programs, exhibits and speakers. They will include local sports figures, ex-professional athletes, local historians and more. Hometown Teams explores the many roles that sports play in American society. Hometown Teams are more than just games, they shape our lives and unite us and celebrate who we are as Americans. We play on ball fields and sandlots, on courts and on ice, in parks and playgrounds, even in the street. What has occurred in our hometowns is nothing less than a sports revolution!
To highlight how sports have shaped the local New Port Richey area, the City of New Port Richey is coordinating with the New Port Richey Library, the West Pasco Historic Society and the Friends of the Hacienda for a series of free lectures and exhibits to be presented alongside the Smithsonian Museum Hometown Teams exhibit. Mr. Bob Langford, Ryan Benjamin, Dan Goodspeed, Jeff Miller, Mike Carlson and the Parks & Recreation Youth Advisory Board will be hosting workshops and lectures.
The public is invited to join the Grand Opening festivities on March 9th at 10:30 a.m. There will be a Pep Rally celebrating the arrival of the Smithsonian Museum with Gulf High School Alumni, students, coaches and athletes attending. Immediately following the Grand Opening Pep Rally, visitors will be welcomed into the exhibit for the first time!
In addition to New Port Richey “Hometown Teams” travels to Miami, Leesburg, Sulphur Springs, Brooksville and Milton through 2019. It is part of the Smithsonian’s “Museum on Main Street” program. State humanities councils, affiliates of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and sponsors fund tours of the exhibit to towns in their states.