By Jeanette Siemens
City of Pratt leader
Special to the Tribune
Opening in June of 2014, The Vernon Filley Art Museum marked it’s 10th anniversary in the Pratt Community this year. The museum was the dream of Mimi Filley, who lived here years ago with her husband, Dr. Vernon Filley, a practicing doctor here in Pratt. Mimi was a lover of art and had an extensive collection of works, most of which is the base of the Filley Art Museum.
When Mrs. Filley decided to give much of her collection, along with some monetary support to Pratt, a board was formed to determine how and what we could do to properly display these beautiful works and, of course, “how do we raise money” along with all the other many questions that arose. Local photographer and collector, Stan Reimer was a major part of the beginning of the Filley. The location near schools was a wonderful choice as Mimi desired the art to be available to students so they could learn an appreciation as well.
Stan was the first Executive Director of the Filley followed by the current Director, Brittany Novotny who began in 2014. Brittany has a Master of Arts degree and moved here from Colorado when she married Steve Novotny from Pratt. The recently held and very successful Mardi Gra was a fund-raising event for the Filley.
I volunteer at the Filly and one of the first days I was there a woman from Canada stopped by. She said she was traveling through, stopped in Pratt for a bit and asked someone what was something to see and do in Pratt and the Filley was one of the suggestions. She spent the morning touring, looking at and enjoying the art. This is one of the many stories of the Museum.
The Filley is one of four and unique, well-done Museums in here. There is also the B-29 Museum at the Airport. You must WANT to go there to find it, but it’s well worth your time. During WWII, our airport was the training facility for the new B-29s that rolled off the assembly line in Wichita. Col. Paul Tibbets who piloted the Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, trained there. The restored parachute building at the airport was restored and looks much like it did in 1943. The facility includes a video viewing room, which is utilized for live presentations and contains numerous artifacts, including historical records of the 29th Bomb Group, a significant unit during World War II.
Speaking of Museums, Pratt is also fortunate to have the Wildlife and Parks Museum located at the headquarters just outside of Pratt. Again, a remarkably interesting and fun place to visit and see information along with displays of wildlife and the outdoors. The Pratt County Historical Museum, 208 South Ninnescah, is another high quality, enjoyable and informative museum located here. All four of our unique museums are of extremely high quality, well done and managed properly. As with so many things, all the museums would not survive without volunteers so thanks to those that volunteer and keep these important, interesting and fun things alive and well here in Pratt, Kansas. Take some time and enjoy these facilities and tell your friends about them.
