Penhallegon One of Five Local Historical Figures to be Portrayed at People of Our Past

Bill Penhallegon, a Wenatchee Valley College coaching legend and visionary who recognized the slopes surrounding the Wenatchee Valley as key to developing a world class ski program, is one of the featured characters for the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center’s People of Our Past program Feb. 28.

Community leader and museum board member Eliot Scull portrays Penhallegon.

“We thought it ftting that Eliot portray Penhallegon,” said museum education coordinator Selina Danko. “As a leader in the movement to preserve our foothills, Eliot understands the value of our natural resources from an economic and quality-of-life perspective.”

Penhallegon’s ski program at the college, one of just three in North America at the time, attracted students from 30 states and four countries eager to learn the ins and outs of ski-lift maintenance, teaching techniques for racing and jumping on skis, and the related felds of biomechanics and kinesiology. World class athletes were drawn to

Penhallegon’s program, helping to put Mission Ridge and Squilchuck on the map as popular winter recreation areas.

Scull portrays the beloved coach in 1980, when Penhallegon was 55 and in his prime teaching years at the college. At the time, his students were earning degrees in ski hill management and going to work establishing ski areas near Waterville, in the Methow valley, Leavenworth and Lake Chelan.

Penhallegon is one of fve historical fgures featured Feb. 28 during the Wenatchee Valley Museum’s People of Our Past program. All fve characters have ties to Wenatchee Valley College (WVC) and the museum. Both institutions are celebrating 75-year anniversaries.

The rest of the People of Our Past lineup includes award winning artist Robert Graves, WVC dean Helen VanTassell, WVC faculty member and author John A. Brown and Kenneth P. Sexton. Sexton was involved in the founding of the college and the museum.

Tracy Carlson portrays Van Tassell, Bob Stoehr is Sexton, Don Collins is Graves and Bill Murray takes on the part of Brown.

Each actor will perform three times during the day with a culminating evening meet-and-greet gala starting at 6 p.m. Performances at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. are by donation. Tickets for the evening event are $35 and include historically themed heavy hors d’oeuvres, wine, live music and a chance to mingle with the characters following the performance.

For more information about the People of Our Past program, contact Selina Danko at 888-6240 or [email protected].