- April 7, 2026
The second annual Bunnell History Day on Saturday, April 11, will feature fun and education. There will be historic displays, costumed reenactors, vendors, DJ music, mechanical bull riding, food trucks and exhibitions.
The event, presented by the Flagler County Historical Society, kicks off with an opening ceremony and student scholarship presentation at Holden House Museum, 204 E. Moody Blvd., at 10 a.m. The day’s festivities will continue to 5 p.m.
This year, the event has been condensed into a central location, Flagler County Historical Society President Ed Siarkowicz said.
The new 1926 Vault Room Museum inside the historic Flagler County courthouse building, 200 E. Moody Blvd., will allow History Day visitors to travel back in time 100 years. The vault room was where the county kept records from 1926 to 2007. Now, the room contains 10 original courthouse benches with seating for 50 people. The Vault Room Museum features exhibits on women’s voting rights and early Bunnell history. Video interviews of community members, compiled by the nonprofit, Seeking Insights for Solutions, will be set up on a laptop in the room for visitors to view, Siarkowicz said.
“They’re collecting interviews of community members, of multigenerational families, Black and white,” Siarkowicz said of the SIS project. “[The residents interviewed] talk about their life experiences during segration and all the way to modern day.”
There will be all-day tours of the Holden House Museum and the Sisco Deen Research Library. Siarkowicz said History Day will spotlight Bunnell’s newest mural, still a work in progress, on the east wall of the former Bunnell Library, which faces the historic courthouse and now houses SMA Healthcare.
“It is the newest mural in what is becoming known as the Bunnell art mural district,” he said.
The 1,100-square-foot mural is being painted by Jacksonville muralist Brook Page. The mural is based on a painting by R.L. Lewis, one of the original Florida Highwaymen — Black artists originating in Fort Pierce in the 1950s who took their paintings on the road on U.S. 1 and A1A, selling them out of the trunks of their cars because art galleries at the time wouldn’t accept the work of Black artists.
There are two surviving members of the Original Highwaymen — 26 artists inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. And one of the two, Curtis Arnett, will be a featured guest at Bunnell History Day, appearing at Poppy’s True Market’s Florida Highwaymen Art Show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Chelsea Herbert, founder of Poppy’s True Market, 802 E. Moody Blvd., is a Flagler County Historical Society board member. Arnett previously appeared at the market’s Highwaymen art show at last year’s History Day. The market has a permanent collection of Highwaymen art, both originals and giclées (digital prints produced by inkjet), Herbert said.
Frank Menino, a collector and dealer of Florida Highwaymen art, partners with Poppy’s True Market in providing Highwaymen art and will also attend the show with some of his collection for sale.
“Frank has an incredible collection, work from A.E Backus, Harold Newton, Al Black — three pretty well-known Highwaymen that people in our area really like,” Herbert said. “There will also be paintings you can buy from Mr. Curtis Arnett directly.”
This is the market’s third time hosting an event with a Highwaymen artist on hand, Herbert said. Lewis, who died this year, attended a show at Poppy’s True Market late last year, revealing the painting that inspired the new Bunnell mural, Herbert said.
Page told the Observer last month that she had worked with Lewis on a project in Hastings, Florida.
“He created a painting. I recreated it for him really large and added my little twist on it as well, and here we are doing it again,” she said.
Siarkowicz said a ribbon cutting for the completed mural will be held sometime in May.
