Seasonal & Holidays
Natick Pearl Harbor Day Observance Set, Minus WWII Museum
Natick will hold its annual Pearl Harbor day observance on Saturday, but without the International Museum of World War II.
NATICK, MA — One of the few municipal Pearl Harbor Day ceremonies in Massachusetts will go on as planned in Natick this year. But the town will observe the day without the International Museum of World War II, which was home to artifacts like Japanese maps of Hawaii, binoculars from the USS Arizona, and fliers used to notify Japanese-Americans about internment.
Natick Veterans Services Director Paul Carew has planned a full lineup for Saturday. The keynote speaker will be retired Col. Bill Callahan, a Natick native and Iraq war veteran. Maureen Sullivan, who runs the Natick Veterans Oral History Project at the Morse Institute Library, will show videos of Natick veterans who lived Pearl Harbor. Local elected officials also plan to attend.
"I'm proud of the fact we're keeping up this tradition — it's one of the few around," Carew said.
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The World War II museum, which was located along Mercer Road in Natick, closed on Sept. 1 after a dispute between the founders and Estee Lauder heir Ronald Lauder, who acquired the museum's large collection for $25 million. Lauder had agreed to keep the collection in Natick until a new museum could be built in Washington, D.C., according to founder Kenneth Rendell.
"Under a loan agreement with this individual, we anticipated keeping the present Museum in Natick intact and open to visitors and students until a new museum in Washington, D.C. was ready. Unexpectedly, the loan agreement was cancelled causing the Museum to close as of Sept. 1, 2019," a post from museum's website reads.
Find out what's happening in Natickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
A few months before the closing, Lauder sued the museum through an LLC he owns, accusing it of refusing to hand over the WWII collection. A federal judge dismissed the suit in October, according to ARTNews.
The state Attorney General's office will oversee the dissolution of the museum, but that process has not started yet.
The Natick Pearl Harbor Observance will take place on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the great room west at the Community Center, 117 E Central St.
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