- Boomtown days is an annual event at the West Kern Oil Museum, and is free to the community.
- The event explores the past and future of Taft's heritage with the oil production industry, there will be food vendors ders, an art exhibit, and showcases from the Taft Oil Tech Academy students.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
An annual event that celebrates and showcases Taft's heritage with the oil production industry gets underway this month. Due to economic policies, oil is slowly being driven out of the town. The director of the West Kern Oil Museum tells me what he feels is the next boom for this town.
“I think the big boom in Taft is our people, they strong people they bounce back, and there’s adversity and we all face that, but champions jump back up and get back on our feet, we’ll be back,” says Greg Munge.
Mudge said one thing to know about the people of Taft, is their resilience. He says residents are exploring various options as the city, and county moves towards ways to find cleaner, more effective ways of producing alternative forms of energy.
Although the oil industry is slowly being driven out of the area... And around the state... Mudge says there is a new "boom" town on the horizon... And that the people of Taft will respond.
“We’re involved in other forms of energy, I think we’re about finding other alternatives to continue to help support the people that live here” continues Mudge.
Agriculture is big in nearby areas, this helped provide many jobs for people in Taft, who used to work for oil companies. As for Boomtown days, it's ready to welcome residents to a display of the past and future. The event will feature food vendors and an art exhibit. Mudge says he's excited about what students take away from the exhibits... That will be showcased at the museum.
“It's a lot of fun for them, it provides them with the confidence that they can present material that they’ve learned about in a good way” says Mudge.
The event will be held on October 14th, and includes students from Taft High School Oil Tech Academy showcasing exhibits from the museum, a barbecue, and a spooky pumpkin patch.
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