Celebrate in Williamsburg

If a trip to Williamsburg November 1-3 for the Fall 2007 MARAC Conference is in your future, you have come to the right place for advice and details from the locals on visiting the town and the region. The conference's theme is "Celebrate!: Virginia’s 400th and MARAC's 35th Anniversaries." (I don't know about you, but each time I hear the theme, a certain song runs through my head and won't go away for what seems like 35 years. While not entirely bad, suppressing the urge to disco is getting a little old.)

What you need to know about the conference program, accommodations, workshops, tours, and getting to Williamsburg is in the program that was sent out in the mail and is available at the MARAC website if you are not a member or the program has not arrived in your mailbox. We may remind you of those details as relevant, but this blog is mostly about the things that did not make it into the program. We will try to answer all of your questions as well as perhaps a few you did not know you had.

A few questions that may have been keeping you up at night:

• Can I rent a period costume when I visit Colonial Williamsburg?
  
• Where am I most likely to hear a mariachi in Williamsburg?
• Are there any golf courses in Williamsburg?
• Has Williamsburg always been Colonial?
  
• Where can I see 16 - 18-ft. tall heads of U.S. Presidents (other than Deadwood, South Dakota)?
• Where can I buy a Virginia ham to take home as a memento?
• Where is the nearest Ben & Jerry's?

These questions have not been keeping you awake, you say? Hmmm, well perhaps now they will! Better these questions keep you awake than whether or not future archivists at your institution will say your name with scorn when explaining to users that there are no records available from the early 21st century because you did not deal with the the issue of digital preservation.

We hope you check in again and, most importantly, we hope to see you in Williamsburg in November!