Museum to look at the Triple Crown

The Aiken County Historical Museum is planning an upcoming exhibit documenting the town's enduring love for the Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown exhibit will open on Tuesday at the museum on Newberry Street, and will remain on display in the ballroom through the end of March. A reception is tentatively planned for Friday, March 13, but details have not been finalized, according to the museum's executive director, Elliott Levy.

"It's primarily going to be photographs and posters. We do have some equipment, but not a lot. Again, like all exhibits, we find they have a tendency to be added to as time goes on," Levy said.

"It's going to be kind of interesting. Four or five months ago Tom Cofer got these two, wonderful posters for us. One is from about 1970, and it's talking about the Triple Crown as the hunt, the flat track and harness racing," he said. "The second one is from 1980, you look at it and flat track is still there, but the hunt has been replaced with the steeplechase, and the harness racing is still there. Nowadays, harness racing is still around, but polo is now the third leg of the Triple Crown. So, it's very interesting to me to see the changes that go on over time."

The exhibit will also cover the annual carriage parade, Levy said. The museum is in search of older posters for steeplechase races, particularly for the fall steeplechase meets.

"The show will be up for a month, and it's that time-frame when people want to show up and see these wonderful photographs from the past. We have some great polo pictures most people probably haven't seen before," said Levy. "It's going to be wonderful."

For more information on the Triple Crown exhibit, call the Aiken County Historical Museum at 642-2015.

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.