Randy Sparks, founder and director of The New Christy Minstrels, had for several years given a benefit concert for the San Joaquin County Historical Society and the Micke Grove Zoological Society. On Friday, July 29, 2011, the benefit concert was more special than ever because it celebrated Randy's birthday and the 50th anniversary of The New Christy Minstrels and because it featured the full group of eight singers, plus supporting musicians. Following a social hour and a delicious New York steak dinner, Randy and The New Christy Minstrels gave a rousing performance. Historical Society President Claude Brown read a proclamation from the City of Lodi recognizing the occasion and Randy's support of the community. Chairman of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors Larry Ruhstaller and Supervisor Ken Vogel presented Randy with a similar proclamation from the County of San Joaquin. It was a memorable evening at the Historical Museum. Thanks to Randy and to all The New Christy Minstrels!

The Museum Docent Council organized a vintage (1970 or earlier) car show at the Museum on Saturday, June 18, 2011. Proceeds from the event benefited the "Raise the Barn" campaign to build an education building at the Museum. In addition to the antique and hot rod cars, visitors enjoyed music, games, a crafts boutique, and food by Royce's Farms BBQ. Two late 1950s micro-cars were popular with the kids, as they were the basis for the character Luigi in the Pixar animated movie "Cars" and Professor Z in "Cars 2" (released this summer). 

 The Stockton Sunrise Rotary Club held its 26^th Annual Wine and Food Tasting event at the Museum on Friday, June 3, 2011. About 800 people enjoyed an evening of live music, wine poured by two dozen wineries, and food from nearly as many restaurants. The club’s fundraising event included a silent auction and a wine auction. The Stockton Sunrise Rotary Club supports more than 50 local charities and nonprofit organizations (see www.stocktonsunrise.org). It's a pleasure for the San Joaquin County Historical Society to host this event at the Museum.

Saturday evening, October 16, 2010, the Museum hosted the Stockton Astronomical Society's "Star Party."  Four hundred visitors enjoyed star shows in two indoor portable planetariums, illustrated lectures on NASA, programs on the phases of the moon, kids' crafts, and--when the clouds allowed--viewing through telescopes. 

The San Joaquin County Historical Society partnered with the nonprofit group Tree Lodi in a proposal to the Lodi Lions Club. We were guided by the original designer of the Sunshine Trail exhibition, Mike Schneider. Our project was selected as the Lodi Lions Club community improvement project—the “Lions Love Lodi Excellence in Community Service Grant”—for 2008. The project is the first phase in rehabilitating the Sunshine Trail living exhibition.

The Sunshine Trail is a unique educational and recreational resource—a loop trail that passes through plants representing life zones in a transect across California, from the Redwood Coast, through the Valley, and into the Foothills and the Sierra. The exhibition was initiated and championed by Soroptimist International of Lodi and was planted 25 years ago. The trees have matured and recent years of deferred maintenance had taken their toll.

In June 2008, tree crews from Grover Tree Service removed a number of large hazardous trees. They also completed the high-level removal of deadwood, thinning/weight reduction, and the removal of many smaller trees that were shaded out. The technical tree work was funded by the Lodi Lions grant.

Work crews from Lodi Lions Club and Tree Lodi removed thousands of invasive Privet trees—from seedlings to large trees that had to be felled by chainsaw—and did lower-level clean-up. This will allow Museum staff to access and repair the irrigation system. Eventually, many of the lower-story specimens that had been shaded or crowded out will be replanted.

The financial planning firm Drummond & Hickingbottom has assisted by encouraging gifts to an endowment for ongoing Sunshine Trail maintenance.

In June 2008, students from Tracy (2), Franklin, McNair, Lincoln (2), St Mary’s, Tokay, and Lodi high schools attended a Plein-air Art Camp at the San Joaquin County Historical Museum. En plein aire in French means painting in the fresh air. Plein-air painting has come to mean representational painting done from real life in nature. It is a national and worldwide movement that has significant roots in San Joaquin County. The Haggin Museum in Stockton has taken an active role in promoting plein-air painting and the Plein-air Art Camp at the Museum was an outgrown of the Plein-air Painters of America exhibition at The Haggin last fall and winter.

The students were assigned full sets of equipment and materials, and received instruction from renowned local artist Gil Dellinger. They did “studio work” in the Museum multi-purpose room, painted outside at locations within the Museum grounds and at the Japanese Garden (in Micke Grove Regional Park), and took a field trip to The Haggin Museum. The students progressed through a series of exercises to develop their skills. For example they started with the development of ability to see and interpret values from photographs, then moved on to interpret the same values from natures, and finally explored how to turn those value studies into accurate color studies.

The San Joaquin County Historical Society plans to offer additional art camps at the Museum in the future.

On December 4 and 5, 2010 the Museum's Docent Council presented the Nineteenth Annual Festival of Trees event at the Museum.  All proceeds supported the Museum's educational programs and services.  Thanks to all who attended, to event co-chairs Carol Blais and Elsa Bates, and to the hundreds of volunteers who made the event noteworthy.

On March 26, 2011, in a ceremony at the Museum, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) designated the Fresno Scraper as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. Following a welcome by Claude Brown, P.E., the President of the San Joaquin County Historical Society, and Chad Johnson, P.E., Chair of the Mt. Diablo Section of ASME, Richard Pawliger, P.E., the Chair of the ASME Committee on History and Heritage, explained the landmark program, which has named about 250 noteworthy engineering breakthroughs.

William Adams, Jr., P.E. (retired), summarized the importance of the Fresno Scraper, developed in the San Joaquin Valley in the late 1880s. The horse-drawn device was used to build irrigation ditches and level farmland for irrigation. It later was used throughout the world, including in the construction of the Panama Canal and the early levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It was the forerunner of virtually all subsequent earthmoving implements.

The ASME landmark plaque was unveiled and presented by past ASME president Robert Nickel, P.E., to Larry Ruhstaller, chair of the County Board of Supervisors, and Ken Vogel, Supervisor, County of San Joaquin.

David Stuart, Executive Director of the Historical Society and Museum, introduced the exhibition on earthmoving equipment now being developed at the Museum. He invited the 65 attendees to visit a "preview" of the exhibition in the Brown-Jones Building and to see the 1919 Holt 75 Caterpillar Tractor being restored by volunteers in the Museum's restoration workshop in the Hammer Building.