Shafer Historical Museum

FIVE women are currently serving as mayors in Okanogan County: Winthrop, Twisp, Omak, Pateros and Tonasket. We invite you to gather together for a friendly, virtual conversation about women, civic leadership, and voter participation.A conversation not about politics or campaigns. But about women leading in our communities by serving as mayors.

View the recording on the Shafer Museum's YouTube Channel

Panelists:

Mayor Carlene Anders, Pateros

Mayor Cindy Gagne, Omak

Mayor Soo Ing-Moody, Twisp

Mayor Marylou Kriner, Tonasket

Mayor Sally Ranzau, Winthrop

Moderator:

Kate Wallace Johnson, Shafer Historical Museum

Pandemics. Wildfires. Floods. Economic Downturns. Voters’ Drives. Public Libraries. Garbage Pick-up. Schools. Of course we know Okanogan County women have long faced local challenges head on, and have been central to organizing solutions and to governing in our local communities! But when Shafer Museum researchers searched the archives of the Okanogan County Historical Society and its affiliated museums, little was found to show how Okanogan women were affected by the expansion of voting rights or Washington’s less restrictive laws on women’s political participation 100 years ago. So today, as we celebrate the Centennial of the passage of the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote in federal elections, the Shafer Museum invites everyone to time to stop, reflect, and record this unique moment in the history of women’s political leadership.