Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00):
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. Today I have Jacque Pregont with the Amelia Earhart Foundation and Hangar Museum on the episode today. I was really excited to bring her on to get into the backstory of Amelia Earhart and her roots here in Kansas, and to talk about the museum that opened three years ago. And the very, very cool experience that it provides to all ages actually, whether you're a kid at heart or a younger generation looking to learn about Amelia and her story. And we get into some really fun details about her history here, the unsolved mystery, what the museum offers and their annual festival that you can look forward to every July coming up this summer. So, I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did talking to Jacque and let us know what you think in the comments. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Jacque Pregont (00:55):
Thank you for having me.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:56):
This is really exciting.
Jacque Pregont (00:57):
It is exciting for me too.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:58):
Yay. Okay, so you are Jacque Pregont. We talked about your name before. Right. Make sure to get it right. but you, let's talk about your role. So you are on, are you on the board? I am on the Amelia Earhart Foundation. And you work with the museum?
Jacque Pregont (01:12):
I am, yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:12):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (01:13):
I'm the treasurer of the board. And then when we started the museum I kind of took on the gift shop because my husband's previous hangar life, he was in wholesale.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:22):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (01:22):
So I was familiar with it and yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:24):
And so
Jacque Pregont (01:25)
I've kind of taken on the gift shop as my pet project.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:28):
I love it. You know, a little thing or two. Okay. Perfect. Well, so let's hear about who you are. I wanna hear, we were talking before we got on the podcast, not growing up in Kansas. I didn't realize that everybody learns about Amelia Earhart being from Atchison.
Jacque Pregont (01:42):
Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:42):
And so I, you know, since I moved here 10 years ago, I heard about the museum opening up and I added it to my bucket list literally, and was like, I have to get the kids there. Let's go. And then when I started the podcast, I'm like, well, clearly we have to have somebody come talk about Amelia Earhart and her roots in Kansas, and then what you guys are doing. So share a little bit about what you and your team are doing and, and what's happening with the foundation.
Jacque Pregont (02:04):
Okay. Fabulous. I'd love to. Well, Amelia was born in Atchison in her Grandparents' home. She spent a large part of the first 12 years of her life there with grandparents.
Jacque Pregont (02:15):
And she always referred to it as her hometown. And, if you don't know a lot of the Amelia story, I think a lot of people think that she was very wealthy. Her grandparents were well off, but as she grew up, her father was an alcoholic. There were a lot of family issues, and so they didn't have a lot of money. And so I've always felt like the reason she referred to Atchison as her hometown, because both sets of grandparents were in Atchison, is that, was that those were the really happy memories she had. Yeah. As she grew older, they moved a lot. her education was uprooted because of situations at home. And, and so, Hangar we have, Hangar gosh, back in 1997 . Her, Hangar her birthplace, Hangar became a museum and was taken on by the International 90 Nines, which is a flying organization that she was the first president of.
Mindy Hargesheimer (03:04):
Amazing.
Jacque Pregont (03:05):
Hangar, the house in town, was purchased by Hangar at that time a doctor and then given to the 90 nines.
Mindy Hargesheimer (03:11):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (03:12):
So that birthplace museum's been there for quite a while. Yeah. And also in 1997, we started celebrating her with the Amelia Earhart Festival. Yes. So that's been going on, Hangar with the exception of two years for COVID. Yep. ever since 1997. And then, Hangar at that celebration in 1997, a lady who had purchased a plane, a lockheed 10 e plane and was refurbishing it and wanted to recreate Amelia's flight. She brought the cockpit of that airplane to that celebration in 1997. It was a huge deal.
Mindy Hargesheimer (03:46):
Yeah, I bet.
Jacque Pregont (03:47):
And at the time, she had conversations with people in town and said, after I do the flight, I want that airplane to come back here. You know, so people in Atchison can continue to celebrate Amelia another way. Yeah. And along the way, she got very sick and all those plans kind of went awry. And so years later, she, Hangar contacted again and said, would you buy the plane from us?
Jacque Pregont (04:14):
So that's when the Atchison and Amelia Earhart Foundation was formed.
Mindy Hargesheimer (04:17):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (04:18):
And the foundation purchased the plane and then began to plan how, how we would display that and what we would do. And rather than just build something around an airplane Yeah. We decided that the best thing to do would be, share that airplane, but also maybe encourage and educate and inspire kids of all ages. We said yes,to have, kind of have the spirit of Amelia, which was always, you know, she was, always energetic. She was always ready to explore. She was, even in the days of her childhood, she was one of those kids you would say always colored outside the lines.
Mindy Hargesheimer (04:57):
Yeah. Right.
Jacque Pregont (04:58):
And, Amelia did a lot of things little girls didn't do.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:01):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (05:02):
And so, we actually worked with a company here in the Kansas City area Dimensional Innovations. Yes. And, what started out as what we thought would be a small project, they helped us build into a fabulous museum.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:17):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (05:17):
That turned into a $17 million project. Wow. and it is 14 activities that we tell Amelia's story, but we tell in a little different way. And so along the way are all kinds of STEM activities. There are a lot of hands-on things where, again, I say kids of all ages because we found adults in joy just as much as kids.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:37):
Do I say kids at heart? Right. Right
Jacque Pregont (05:38):
Yeah. And, Hangar you can play with things, you can learn about things. We do a lot of comparisons about how things were in Amelia's time and how they are now.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:45):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (05:46):
And, we just had a school group up there today. We're doing a lot of field trips.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:52):
Yep.
Jacque Pregont (05:53):
And, it's just, we've been very excited about the response we've had.
Jacque Pregont (05:59):
We, for the third year in a row, we were, nominated by USA today and finished this year as the fifth Best History Museum in the country.
Mindy Hargesheimer (06:10):
You shouted out, dimensional innovation. So, have you been to Atlas9?
Jacque Pregont (06:15):
I Have not.
Mindy Hargesheimer (06:15):
'cause you know, they were behind that as well. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. It's an incredible place to go. And so we, my family and I we're doing this right now in March. but my family and I are gonna go to the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum next month. Yes. So we're gonna get to check it out. Our daughters are three, and I'm sorry, third grade and sixth grade. And so told 'em all about it, but they have also been to Atlas9. So I bring that up because clearly we will be very excited to see how, you know, DI basically pulled through at your museum what we've seen already that they've done here. So Yeah. Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (06:47):
I'm excited to see that. we were just so impressed with them from the very beginning when we went in to talk to them about, Hangar our ideas
Jacque Pregont (06:56):
and we had several other people to talk to as well. Hangar but for, for us, one of the most exciting things was that they were in Kansas City.
Mindy Hargesheimer (07:02):
No kidding. They were close. That works out great.
Jacque Pregont (07:04):
It made it easy for us. We were back and forth a lot in the early stages
Jacque Pregont (07:07):
Of it for meetings and, and trying out things and seeing if we thought they would work. And, and, Hangar so it was a great relationship. Well, still a relationship. Yeah
We still have a relationship with them, for all the little things that happen along the way. Sure.
Jacque Pregont (07:20):
The help you need. Hangar but yeah. They've been phenomenal.
Mindy Hargesheimer (07:22):
Yeah. Why do you think that people have such a fascination all these years later, continuously with Amelia Earhart? And if she were alive today, how old would she be?
Jacque Pregont (07:31):
Oh gosh. 128 or nine. Okay.
Jacque Pregont (07:38):
We put, 'cause I just brought the brochure hot off the press. This would be happy birthday, Amelia. Where'd she go? Me find her? She would be 129 this summer
Jacque Pregont (07:49):
Okay. I used to laugh and say, because where I live in Atchison is just a block from her birthplace. And oh
Mindy Hargesheimer (07:54):
My gosh. I
Jacque Pregont (07:55):
Used to laugh and say, maybe she'll show up for one of our parties. But I kind of gave up on that after we got over a hundred.
Mindy Hargesheimer (08:00):
You know, what you need to do at the festival is you need to figure out how to do one of those, one of those like 3D things that they're doing now with like Michael Jackson and people in Vegas residency. Yes. That could be pretty cool. I have no idea how you would get that done, but I bet Dimensional Innovations could probably help you figure that out. Could
Jacque Pregont (08:15):
Be. We do have a, a lovely girl from San Diego, named Sydney Blake, and she, Hangar comes as Amelia. Oh. So we have Amelia there and, and, Hangar she does several photo ops and she's just done a really good job of studying Amelia audio. Okay. So that she kind of has the same cadence . In her, in her voice that, that Amelia had. And, people absolutely love her. She's so much fun. How'd
Mindy Hargesheimer (08:41):
You get connected with her and what's her affinity for? It's really funny.
Jacque Pregont (08:44):
She, again, she's in San Diego area. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (08:46):
And
Jacque Pregont (08:46):
She had done Amelia for the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Mindy Hargesheimer (08:50):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (08:51):
And she happened to call our museum and said she was gonna come to see the museum and, Hangar but she was gonna come like a week before our festival . And so they connected her to me and, and we said, could you wait a week <laugh>? Yeah. Any chance. And so, and then be Amelia.
Page 8 of 48
And so, Hangar we've gotten to be pretty good friends. She, Hangar has come every year since then and actually went, I went and she went to dairy. We've gone to Dairy Northern Ireland a few times where Amelia landed in Northern Ireland. And so Sydney went last year. Her and I both went last May. And, Hangar she got to be Amelia in dairy as well.
Mindy Hargesheimer (09:27):
Very cool. Yeah. Okay. So, so let's talk about people's fascination with Amelia Earhart and also yours, because I wanna hear more about like your backstory and how you really got involved in learning about her and kind of being representative of everything happening today.
Jacque Pregont (09:42):
Well, I think I learned about her when I was a kid. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (09:44):
Obviously
Jacque Pregont (09:45):
Growing up in her hometown, but, didn't really have a whole lot going on with it. I, I mentioned before my husband was in wholesale, so I did a lot of his paperwork and stuff. I was fortunate enough to have a job, but also be a stay at home mom. Yeah. While my kids were young . And then, I think my son was probably a junior in high school and I got a phone call from an old friend that said, Hangar the Amelia Earhart Festival person has moved on and we need somebody. Or are you interested in a part-time
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:11):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (10:11):
Part-time position. And, it just kind of took over
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:15):
<laugh> Yeah. Took on a life of its own. So
Jacque Pregont (10:17):
It did.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:18):
It did.
Jacque Pregont (10:18):
Yeah. And, and so, I've done that for 25 years. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:24):
Jacque Pregont (10:25):
Page 9 of 48
And then as this idea, it became really good friends with, the person who's also, Hangar the president of the foundation
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:33):
.
Jacque Pregont (10:33):
When this all happened, she called and said, will you be on the board? And I said, absolutely. I also was at the Chamber of Commerce
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:40):
Yeah. As
Jacque Pregont (10:40):
Their president for a while. So that just kind of tied it all, tied it all together,
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:44):
Really involved in the community,
Jacque Pregont (10:45):
in the tourism part of the community. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:48):
And,
Jacque Pregont (10:49):
Hangar yeah. It's just kind of taken over.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:51):
Yeah. so as a foundation, what does that look like? What do you guys do as a foundation sort of day to day?
Jacque Pregont (10:57):
Primarily? Primarily we run the museum.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:59):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (11:00):
we are just the board that oversees the museum that,
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:03):
Jacque Pregont (11:03):
Page 10 of 48
Obviously raise money.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:05):
. Museums
Jacque Pregont (11:06):
As a rule don't survive just on entry.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:08):
Right.
Jacque Pregont (11:09):
money. So, you try to raise money
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:13):
Jacque Pregont (11:14):
. we promote the musewe promote Amelia as much as we can. And I say every time there's any publicity about Museum Museyeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:20):
About
Jacque Pregont (11:21):
Amelia, we love it. Yep.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:22):
Jacque Pregont (11:23):
Because the phone rings.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:24):
Yeah. I've got a few things in here I'll mention as well. Yeah. Which is fun to Google.
Jacque Pregont (11:27):
It just gets people talking. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:28):
It just
Jacque Pregont (11:29):
Gets people talking about her again. Yeah.
Page 11 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:31):
Which
Jacque Pregont (11:31):
Is all good. Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:32):
No matter,
Jacque Pregont (11:32):
You know, whether you think
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:34):
Literally what's going on, literal, keeping her spirit alive in so many different ways. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jacque Pregont (11:37):
Absolutely. And I just think she continues to be such an inspiration . especially to women. Yeah. But it can be to anybody. Yeah. But especially to young women, to, that it's okay to think outside the box. Yeah. Right? . It's okay to follow your dreams. . She failed many times. . And I think that's one thing we try to emphasize to kids that come through It's okay to fail. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:02):
Huge lesson learn Yes. Yourself off the ground as a mom of little trust and
Jacque Pregont (12:05):
Yes. And try again. Yeah. Because I think a lot of society today tends to push, Hangar us being perfect people and being really good at everything and . I have a granddaughter that's, that's nine and you're not gonna be good at things if you don't practice. Yeah. If you don't work at it. Right. Yeah. So you are gonna fail. You are gonna have a bad soccer game, you
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:26):
Know, Hangar,
Jacque Pregont (12:26):
But it's okay. You
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:27):
Have to lose at some point. You have to fail and something has to break at some point, right?
Jacque Pregont (12:31):
Yeah. And
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:32):
Page 12 of 48
That's
Jacque Pregont (12:32):
Every time there is anything like that, somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:36):
So
Jacque Pregont (12:36):
You have to, you just have to know that it's okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:39):
. To
Jacque Pregont (12:40):
Pick yourself up and go on and try again. And she certainly did many times. Yeah. and I think that to be, you know, she was one of those early spokespeople . For women's rights . And for one of her quotes that's so awesome is that, you know, she felt like a woman could do anything, a man could. Yeah. And absolutely.
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:59):
And we're talking in like the thirties Right, right. Dating back to, because I think she disappeared in the thirties, 19 37, 30 seven's accurate. Yeah. yeah. And I, you know, being a female, as someone who's very driven and entrepreneurial, having two daughters, I am all about everything. You know, like female driven and putting, you know, women in the driver's seat to really feel empowered to do things. So I think this is really interesting to hear her backstory, and I'm sure we could get into many details about like, her whole kind of trajectory, how many years, like, what's kind of the overarching kind of like, story of how she got into aviation and how long did she spend trying to do that flight before it actually happened? Like, what's kind of the main things to know about her and was she doing it here out of Kansas?
Jacque Pregont (13:45):
no, usually not. Okay. Then she was older, but you know, she, the first time she saw people flying, she wasn't overly impressed. Okay. But once she went for a ride in an airplane . And she said as soon as soon as she got off the ground, she knew she had to fly. Yeah. So when you find a passion. Yeah. and I think that's another thing, you know, a lot of times we spend a lot of time spinning our wheels doing something we don't really care about. Right. Right. Oh gosh. So find a passion, find, find something that you really love . And then it doesn't become a job. . It becomes something that you absolutely love doing and you don't even consider it to be work anymore. Yep. And I think that's how she was. As hard as she just pushed hard and hard and hard. You know, we, one of the things we talk about at the museum is all the jobs she had. Yeah. She was willing to do anything to earn money to buy those airplanes. . She drove a gravel truck. Oh
Mindy Hargesheimer (14:36):
My gosh. 'cause
Jacque Pregont (14:37):
Page 13 of 48
She wanted to buy an airplane. Yeah. And she took whatever she could find whatever job was available, and she was willing to do it. . And then when she had her airplane, she wanted to learn all about, she had mechanics that helped her, but she wanted to know how to do that. That Yeah. She wanted to learn how to do it very firsthand driven, so, right. . And I think that's another goal we talk about at the museis that we wanna encourage people to go into aviation. Doesn't mean you have to be a pilot. Right. Yeah. We need pilots, we all know that. Yep. But we also need mechanics. Yeah. And we need people that are willing to go work in airports . We need all those people are valuable Yeah. To the mode of travel that we expect today . And so it's okay not to be a pilot. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (15:21):
It's
Jacque Pregont (15:21):
Okay to do all the other things that are just as necessary. Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (15:24):
To
Jacque Pregont (15:24):
Make that airplane get off the ground. Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (15:25):
Yeah. Yeah. Well work
Jacque Pregont (15:26):
In the factories that are building 'em. It's, that's great. That's
Mindy Hargesheimer (15:30):
A really good point. A
Jacque Pregont (15:31):
Great thing to think about.
Mindy Hargesheimer (15:31):
So with the musethat's a big mission I would assume is for these, you know, the ideally the younger generation to learn and then find inspiration and how they can continue learning. Like how to maybe get into this field or get into this industry. Like what are some of the, what are some of the experiences at the
museum that everybody can get really excited for? Because I think I saw like there's a virtual reality experience, reality there. Experience experie is great. Gotta have that, right? Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (15:56):
The virtual reality is really fun because, di recreated her flight across the Atlantic Wow. Hangar to dairy. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:03):
Page 14 of 48
And,
Jacque Pregont (16:03):
when we first opened, and I was out there a lot, and we would tell people, do you want do the vr? And they'd say, what is it? We'd say, well, you recreate her flight across the Atlantic, but it will not take you 20 hours. It's only four minutes. Minutes. And you'll come home. Right. Yeah. <laugh>,
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:15):
It's
Jacque Pregont (16:15):
Only four minutes. Yeah. And you won't crash. Yeah. We promise you won't crash. so it's a fair
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:20):
Question. Yeah,
Jacque Pregont (16:21):
Absolutely. So obviously when she was gonna fly across the Atlantic, she was supposed to land in Paris. She did not . She got off course because of the many things that happen. So when you fly that vr, you're gonna go through the storm. Yeah. You're going to, if you go too fast, you're gonna light your plane on fire. Oh my gosh. But you're not gonna crash <laugh>, but, so you're either gonna land in Paris or you're gonna land in dairy. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:41):
And
Jacque Pregont (16:41):
Then when kids are disappointed and say, well, we didn't land in Paris. And I said, well, neither did she. So it's okay. Okay. It's all right to be in dairy. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's great. That's so interesting. So that's one of the fun things, I think. And it's just about a four minute flight . and, Hangar it's fun to be in there when, when people do it, even adults, because some, em get, we had one person just got so tickled, they were just laughing hysterically. Oh
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:02):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (17:03):
Again,
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:04):
The kid at heart
Jacque Pregont (17:05):
That they're doing it right. . And, Hangar and my mom, who I said just passed away about a year ago, but she was 88 years old, and she thought that was the most fun in the museum for her, was to do that virtual reality fight. She loved it.
Page 15 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:16):
I love that. Absolutely
Jacque Pregont (17:16):
Loved it. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:17):
Jacque Pregont (17:17):
But there are hands on things. There are, Hangar if you look at Muriel, the airplane . That was built in 1935, we, kind of counted and estimated that there are about 85,000 rivets in the outside of that plane.
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:31):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (17:32):
So, and they're cold rivets. In other words, you take them out of cold storage and you have to put them in the plane and rivet them in because immediately when they get warm, they're gonna expand. Right. Okay. That's what holds 'em in there. So we have a riveting contest where two people can have a contest with each other to see who can rivet the best. And it's precision
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:53):
Uhhuh ,
Jacque Pregont (17:55):
But then you also have to be fast, but you can't be too fast.
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:58):
<laugh> Okay. <laugh>.
Jacque Pregont (17:58):
Because if you're too fast, you perfect seed, you're not Yes. You're not gonna get any, nothing's gonna happen if you're too fast. Yeah. So, Hangar and that's a lot of fun. I and kids have a lot of fun with that. Okay.
(18:07):
that's one of 'em, one of the, we did research before we opened the museand one of the things that the kids said they liked to do in museums was dress up. And so this was right around pre COVID. And, and so obviously we didn't want to have clothes that you're gonna have people taking off and putting on and all that. Sure. So again, di helped, and this is a virtual where, we have four four of Amelia's, jobs that she had. She was a fashion designer, obviously. She was a pilot, she was a mechanic.
Mindy Hargesheimer (18:38):
I think I realized she was a fashion designer. She
Page 16 of 48
Jacque Pregont (18:40):
Was a fashion designer
Mindy Hargesheimer (18:41):
For a while.
Jacque Pregont (18:41):
Fun
Mindy Hargesheimer (18:42):
Fact. So you,
Jacque Pregont (18:42):
Yeah. So you can pick which one you want to be, and then there's, Hangar you get your picture taken. So you become, you know, it's, it transforms you to
Mindy Hargesheimer (18:52):
The screen. Screen morph into Amelia.
Jacque Pregont (18:53):
Yes. And then you, one of the, that's one of the comparisons we do, you will wear like a pilot's uniform, like she wore . When she was a pilot, and then it transcends into a pilot of today and how they dress. Oh, okay. So same with fashion.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:07):
Yep.
Jacque Pregont (19:07):
one of the outfits that she would've designed and when she was a fashion designer, and then we use a, more current Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:13):
Fashion
Jacque Pregont (19:13):
Designers. Hangar and kids love to do that. And of course it moves with you, so you know, you're,
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:18):
Yeah. I
Jacque Pregont (19:19):
Don't know. We've had kids try to do somersaults and all kinds of stuff. <laugh> Mindy Hargesheimer (19:22):
Page 17 of 48
Like, let's not get it. They get too ambitious with this. They have fun with it.
Jacque Pregont (19:25):
They have fun with it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:26):
Yeah. What are other fun things that we don't know about Amelia Earhart that she did? I mean, 'cause I feel like most people probably would know, of course. her making her Trans Atlantic flight and, well,
Jacque Pregont (19:35):
I think I have two favorite stories about her as a child. And one
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:38):
Is
Jacque Pregont (19:39):
Probably better known than the other. The one that's the most well known is her rollercoaster story.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:42):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (19:43):
parents took them to the World's Fair in St. Louis, Uhhuh
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:46):
.
Jacque Pregont (19:47):
And they were, I believe they were nine and seven, if I remember right. And, Hangar they wanted to ride the rollercoaster and they weren't allowed to ride the rollercoaster because they were girls. Really? Really.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:57):
Wow.
Jacque Pregont (19:58):
So when they came home, Amelia decided she was gonna build her own rollercoaster. Oh. So they had a favorite uncle for her uncle, and she and Muriel, her sister Uhhuh , they got a box and they got a ladder, and they made their own rollercoaster off of the shed in the back of the house. obviously she got hurt, but she said it was the closest thing to flying that she'd ever seen. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:19):
So
Jacque Pregont (20:19):
Page 18 of 48
I think her, her, intimations toward flying started early.
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:22):
Yep.
Jacque Pregont (20:23):
So I think that's a great story. And in the museum we have, Hangar we have a little display that kind of shows what that might have looked like. We also have a roller coaster that you can wind up and watch to see how roller coasters work. Okay. and then we also have a computer screen where you can build your own box. Ah, and so you set how much grease you want on the wheels, what angle you want it to go off the roof at to see if you crash, or if you make it to the bottom
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:48):
Back to that stem focus.
Jacque Pregont (20:49):
Yes. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think the real rollercoaster, you talk about, one of the things that, that, we talk about there is what makes, maybe if I love rollercoasters and you're scared to death mm hmm . Right. What, what happens in our minds? Why do some of us think those are really fun,
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:06):
Exciting? I am not a fan of them today. So Yes. And
Jacque Pregont (21:08):
Why, see, I picked it, right? Yeah, you did. And why, why do some people just absolutely love that feeling and others just, I don't want anything to do with it. Yeah. Right. And it's the endorphins in your mind. . And how do those, why? So we talk about that a little bit too, which I think is cool.
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:23):
Kind of the psychology behind it,
Jacque Pregont (21:24):
Right?
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:24):
Yeah. Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (21:25):
What's, what's going on up here,
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:27):
<laugh>. Yep. Yeah. It's so true to make that
Jacque Pregont (21:28):
Page 19 of 48
Happen. Yeah. Oh,
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:29):
There's so much happening
Jacque Pregont (21:30):
There. The, the other story I love about her is, the other rule for girls and boys when you were kids was girls could not sit up if they were riding a sled down a hill. The boys could sit up, girls could not. Who
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:40):
Is
Jacque Pregont (21:40):
Coming up these
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:41):
Rules Back in the day?
Jacque Pregont (21:42):
Actually, I think I did that backwards.
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:43):
Very bizarre.
Jacque Pregont (21:44):
I told that backwards girls could sit up, boys could. Wait. I gotta, let me think. That's okay. Sorry. You'll change. No, you're good. Change it. I know you'll fix it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:52):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (21:52):
yes. Girls had to sit up if they were on a sled. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:57):
But
Jacque Pregont (21:58):
The boys could lay down. Okay. So she was, when you come to Atchison, you will see the hill. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:03):
That
Jacque Pregont (22:03):
Page 20 of 48
Is right by her house. Right by my house. and it's a pretty extensive downhill slide. And so they were out riding sleds down the hill, and she was laying down on the sled, not supposed to
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:13):
. Right.
Jacque Pregont (22:14):
She's supposed to sit up, she's laying down and there's a cross street that comes out, and a horse and carriage came outta that cross street. And if she'd have been sitting up, she would've been hurt really bad. She went right under there because she was laying down. Are you kidding? I love that story.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:28):
Yeah. I've never heard
Jacque Pregont (22:29):
These
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:29):
Before
Jacque Pregont (22:29):
And all because she was disobeying how girls were supposed to act <laugh>. I know.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:33):
But like, look at the, just some of those behaviors that led her to be the legend that she is and how she paved the way, obviously for so many other females. So
Jacque Pregont (22:43):
Willing to take chances.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:44):
I love that storytelling to like look back and connect the dots. Yeah. okay. So back to the museum. So anything else there that you wanna go through? You've got the plane, you've got the statue, you've got the vr. Right? You guys are open, I think Wednesday through Sunday. We are. That's accurate. We're
Jacque Pregont (22:59):
Wednesday through Sunday. . yeah. The, the plane again is identical. It's the last Lockheed L 10 E. Okay. Which is the plane, the same plane that Amelia was flying when she disappeared. And Yeah. We always say it's the last one. And I said, well, really, there's one more. It's wherever Amelia is, right? Yeah. There's still one somewhere out there. Yeah. but the rest of the interesting story of that is that there were only 14 of them built. it was a 10 passenger, actually a commercial airline when it was built.
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:25):
Okay.
Page 21 of 48
Jacque Pregont (23:26):
and it was sold, Hangar hers, the one that we have was sold to Pan Am Airways and it went to South America. So it was flying as a commercial airline . Airplane, it could carry 10 passengers and it was in South America. So we used to, would say when I was still doing tours out there, Hangar I would say what saved its life of it was outta the country at the time. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:46):
Right.
Jacque Pregont (23:46):
Because the others were all, when we went to war, the others were pulled into the war. Okay. and, and this one, had deteriorated. It had an interesting history. It was, Hangar it had done things like, at, when it was in South America, it came back, it was up in the northeast at Martha's Vineyard. . With Boston Airways. It was flying those little puddle jumpers out to Cape Cod and things like that.
Mindy Hargesheimer (24:09):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (24:11):
eventually then it was sold to a parachuting company. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (24:14):
We
Jacque Pregont (24:14):
Have people skydived out of the airplane that we have. when I was still at the chamber, I got a phone call one day and a guy said, I heard that you've got a Lockheed 10 E. And I said, we do. And he kept asking me questions and I kept saying, yes, yes. Uhhuh. And he said, I jumped out of that airplane.
Mindy Hargesheimer (24:27):
Oh my gosh.
Jacque Pregont (24:28):
And so he since has been to the museum to see airplanes. What an incredible ceiling for that. Sent us some videos and stuff. Yeah. Which was really cool. it was actually on the back lot at the, Hangar wheels and Wings Museum in Orlando, Florida. Okay. Museum was closing. Everything was up for auction. And the lady who wanted to recreate Amelia's flight was looking for an airplane. And she went down there to look before it all went to auction and walked all through the museum. She said there was nothing. And, and she said, this is all you've got. And the guy said, I got a couple that are going to the scrap heap out back. And this one was kind of in pieces.
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:01):
Wow.
Jacque Pregont (25:01):
Page 22 of 48
She spent 30 years putting it back together.
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:04):
Wow.
Jacque Pregont (25:04):
With every intention of recreating the flight, Uhhuh
(25:07):
And then got sick with Lyme disease. Yeah. And, at that time, Lyme was like the last thing they searched for. Right. Sure. And so by the time they found it, she was really, really sick and, excuse me. And she just couldn't do it. Anyway, we ended up with the airplane. . I think the other, the other thing that I had a big part in see Right, was the statue as you enter the museum Yeah. We have a statue that's identical to the one that we took to the Capitol. Okay. we opened the museHangar April 14th, 2023. Okay. So
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:38):
We're
Jacque Pregont (25:38):
Getting close to our third birthday.
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:40):
Yep.
Jacque Pregont (25:40):
to be
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:41):
Three years old, that's still probably pretty new for a lot of people listening. It is who maybe haven't been yet. It probably
Jacque Pregont (25:46):
Is. Right. I think it probably is. but yeah, the statue's beautiful. I, that was my project. I started with that when I was at the Chamber, and then we finally got her done. That was a lot of hoops to jump through, but
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:58):
Got her done. Yeah. Got
Jacque Pregont (25:59):
Her done, got her installed in the Capitol.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:01):
Page 23 of 48
Let's go back to that, you guys. just ranked fifth for the Best History Museum in USA, today's Reader Choice Reader's Choice Awards for 2026. Okay. That's amazing. How do you go about entering that? What does it mean to you guys? How do they, what's the criteria that they look at? Do you know?
Jacque Pregont (26:18):
I don't really know.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:19):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (26:20):
We, that's so cool.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:21):
Three
Jacque Pregont (26:22):
Years ago we were nominated and it's just, you know, all of a sudden you get an email from USA today. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:27):
And
Jacque Pregont (26:27):
Three years ago we were nominated as the Best New Museum Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:31):
In
Jacque Pregont (26:32):
The country
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:32):
. And
Jacque Pregont (26:32):
We finished third. That's
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:33):
Amazing. Which is
Jacque Pregont (26:34):
Pretty cool.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:34):
Page 24 of 48
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (26:35):
what they do is they have this panel, and I don't exactly know what their criteria is, Uhhuh , but they have a panel that nominates 20. Okay. And then the public is invited to vote on it . And so, a lot of it is, you know, how good are you at, at getting people behind you. Sure. And, so that year we got third, and then last year they nominated us as the Best History Museum. Okay. And we finished fourth.
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:01):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (27:01):
This year we finished fifth. I said, I think it's a little harder because it's, it's so exciting the first time.
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:07):
Sure.
Jacque Pregont (27:07):
You know, and, and it's just harder to get people 'cause you can vote every day and you can also vote on everything you have. Yeah. So you have a, Hangar an iPad, you have a a com computer, you have a, all your different ip, <laugh>, you have an iPhone, you all of those you can vote for, but to get people to sit down and do that Sure. Over and over. Yeah. And then the festival two years ago was voted third on the, in the,
for the best place to watch fireworks. Oh, that's great. Which is awesome because we are up against usually 4th of July fireworks. Oh my gosh. And we're the third weekend in July. We're not a 4th of July fireworks. Yeah. but we do fireworks set to music, so it's always fun to see Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:45):
How
Jacque Pregont (27:45):
They choreograph the music to the fireworks.
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:47):
And I wanna get to the festival here in a second, but I had a couple other questions. When you, I don't know if you're at the museum a lot, but like, what are some of the reactions you see from like, little kids that are coming in? Or like, what are some of the fun stories that you see of the experience that people are having? And are they coming in? I'm sure they're coming in from out of town, many of them. Absolutely.
Jacque Pregont (28:06):
Absolutely. We have had already in three, less than three years, we've had people from all 50 states. Oh,
Mindy Hargesheimer (28:10):
Great.
Jacque Pregont (28:10):
Page 25 of 48
We've had people from, I think they told me 21 countries. Oh
Mindy Hargesheimer (28:14):
My gosh.
Jacque Pregont (28:15):
So, it helps to have Benedictine College in town. Yeah. Oh, fair. 'cause we get a lot of Benedictine parents and things when they come to events. but I think, Hangar what's, I think what's been the most encouraging is that people of all ages really enjoy it. Yeah. we knew from the beginning that people were gonna be disappointed they couldn't get in the plane.
Mindy Hargesheimer (28:35):
Sure.
Jacque Pregont (28:36):
Yeah. So one of the things we did, one of the Activ activations is a absolute replica of the cockpit. Okay. That you can get in. Sweet. And so we find the smallest kids love that the most . Because you can just go in there and push buttons, and if you push the right buttons, Amelia's gonna talk to you. Yeah. And, and so that's been really fun to see. I think virtual reality, kids absolutely
love. Yeah. They'll come, can we go do that again? Can we go do that again?
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:04):
We love virtual reality. Anything they've done, that's such an amazing job creating this. Yeah. And
Jacque Pregont (29:08):
It's just our, our biggest, probably our biggest excitement has been that all ages really find something they really like and wanna do.
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:15):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (29:15):
we have a, a balcony portion where, the constellations are in view . Because
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:23):
That's
Jacque Pregont (29:23):
How, Hangar Fred Newan was reading the Stars. That's, you know, that was part of her.
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:27):
He was with her on the plane. Yes.
Jacque Pregont (29:29):
Page 26 of 48
That was her navigator, and that was part of what he was doing. . Was navigating the stars. So we have the constellations that you can light 'em up and, and see where they are in the sky and Yeah. And kind of learn about those as well.
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:41):
Who was he to her? Just kind
Jacque Pregont (29:43):
Of like a, Hangar he was a navigator. Yeah. Okay. Proponent to be one of the better ones. . At the time. and, Hangar they seemed to work well together. So,
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:54):
And do I have the story right that they they found him? No,
Jacque Pregont (29:57):
They
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:58):
Didn't find him either. No. Okay. Got it.
Jacque Pregont (30:00):
Well, there have been all kinds of things.
Mindy Hargesheimer (30:01):
I know I was doing my homework and I'm like, what are the things that I'm gonna write down to talk about, to bring up of all the conspiracy theories and the whole mystery . That people are so fascinated with? 'cause we live in the, the world of, sleuths
Jacque Pregont (30:14):
Absolutely.
Mindy Hargesheimer (30:14):
Looking up all the things they can find out.
Jacque Pregont (30:16):
Well, and I think the thing with him might be, the History Channel did a program and where, what part of the basis of that was this picture that they had that they were just sure was them on an island after like a s photo know that they'd been rescued, right? . And the the funniest part was they didn't do enough homework because not too long after the show was, on tv. In fact, it was just within days there came forth someone who showed a book. And that photo was from a book from two years before they even did the flight. So it wasn't them . It, I mean, it, if you look at the picture, you could say, well, yeah, I suppose it could be them. Yeah. But obviously it wasn't. Yeah. And so somebody didn't do quite enough homework. <laugh>.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:01):
Page 27 of 48
Yep. Yep. Didn't clear that, that one, that too much. Right. What are some of the craziest theories that are out there that you guys have heard of, of what happened to them? Oh,
Jacque Pregont (31:08):
That she was on an island and eaten by crabs. There, there are giant crabs though. And we
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:13):
Have
Jacque Pregont (31:13):
Pictures of the, I mean, they're huge.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:14):
Oh, you do? Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (31:15):
They're
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:15):
Huge. So that could be a viable option. It's not completely,
Jacque Pregont (31:18):
I guess, out there <laugh>. It's not one of mine, but it's okay. Yes. So, and that's one thing we do too. The very last thing in the museif you go through it, the way that we have it mapped out, the very last thing is that you can vote. What do you think happened?
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:30):
Ooh.
Jacque Pregont (31:31):
And we have the top, I think there are seven different things, and then we have, here's why that could be true. Here's why it could not be true.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:39):
How many options are there? And
Jacque Pregont (31:40):
You, I think, well, there's probably more than that.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:42):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (31:42):
But we have, I believe we have seven up there. And
Page 28 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:45):
Then
Jacque Pregont (31:45):
You can vote on what you think really happened.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:47):
Is there an obvious one people vote for of what they believe happened?
Jacque Pregont (31:51):
She crashed and went in the water. Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:52):
Just Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (31:53):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:54):
The most simplistic version of it. Yeah. She just
Jacque Pregont (31:55):
Went down.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:56):
Yeah. So, oh my gosh. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what was I looking up? I saw, what were some of the conspiracies that I saw out there? I saw the crab one. I saw that she was captured by Japan.
Jacque Pregont (32:08):
That she was a Japanese spy.
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:10):
Japanese spy. Right. Yeah. So that was really fun to check out <laugh>. okay. So let's talk about the festival. So the annual festival, annual festival is every July for two days. It's the, so that's coming up. Yes. It
Jacque Pregont (32:23):
Is the third full weekend in July.
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:25):
This
Jacque Pregont (32:25):
Year it'll be the 17th and the 18th. Okay.
Page 29 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:27):
It's
Jacque Pregont (32:27):
A Friday and a Saturday. we do a lot of fun stuff. A lot of fun stuff. We always have a concert on Friday night, that's down on the riverfront. And, this year the headliner's gonna be Blackhawk and we'll have Lori Morgan, and then we have a young girl from St. Joe, that will open for us. And so that's a ticketed event.
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:47):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (32:48):
On Saturday. The only other ticketed event that we have is on Saturday. And in my mind, this is the heart and soul of the festival. I always say we do a lot of fun stuff.
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:57):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (32:58):
But the heart and soul of the festival is, we do a speaker symposium. Okay. And we give a pioneering achievement award to a person every year that we think exemplifies the spirit of Amelia Earhart. Okay. And we've had some fabulous people. what are some from all walks of life, right? It's not always about space and air Okay. And all that. Hangar we have done, people like May Jameson, who was an astronaut one. I think she was the first black astronaut . we've done Eileen Collins, who was also an astronaut, but we've also done people like, Hangar Tori McClure, who was the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean. Okay. By herself.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:37):
.
Jacque Pregont (33:37):
Hangar we did a woman jockey who was the most female, woman jockey in, in horse racing.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:43):
So always female.
Jacque Pregont (33:45):
Yes. Always female.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:46):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (33:47):
And, we did Lynette Woodard who, Kay KU basketball, um,
Page 30 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:52):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (33:53):
Scored more points. I, I think that might have been broken recently, but scored
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:57):
More points
Jacque Pregont (33:57):
Okay. Hangar than anybody else, Hangar in women's basketball. so we, we did, a few years ago, we did a young lady named Mandy Horvath, who, was date raped and lost both her legs. Oh my gosh. And how she came back from that. Okay. And, and is, thriving today. Yeah. so it's just all kinds of
different things . This year, I'm excited because we have a, lady named Dr. Dolia Dello. Okay. She is, an astronomer . who has, Hangar discovered, and I have to look that one up, <laugh> because I'm not an astronomer. Sure. but she's a lovely lady who's done just tremendous work in that field. And she, Hangar let's see. She is an extra galactic astrophysicist.
Mindy Hargesheimer (34:46):
Holy impressive. Yes. Couldn't even tell you what that means
Jacque Pregont (34:49):
Either.
Mindy Hargesheimer (34:49):
That's, that's great.
Jacque Pregont (34:49):
<laugh>. But it's very impressive. But she, is credited for the discovery of a supernova, which is, a stellar nursery outside the galaxy and Okay. And so I'm excited to honor her too. and I think anybody who's interested in space and, that she'll be really interesting to talk to. She was actually at Atchison a few years ago when we were one of the spots with the, Hangar complete, lost my words.
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:18):
That's okay. It'll
Jacque Pregont (35:19):
Come to you. the, oh my God, when the, you know, the sun and the moon, the
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:24):
Eclipse.
Jacque Pregont (35:25):
Page 31 of 48
Thank you. Okay. So you can she, yes. She was in Atchison a few years ago for the total eclipse. Yes. Okay. And, Hangar and I visited with her then, and then I just, she just popped into my head and I got back with her this year and said, we'd love to honor you. So,
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:38):
So is it the board, your board who chooses Yes. Identifies who is gonna be the speaker?
Jacque Pregont (35:44):
Yes. Yeah. So I, we will have the symposium and she'll take part in the symposium on Saturday morning prior that. And then, Hangar and then after that is the luncheon where we actually honor her. She'll be the speaker. The symposium is free to the public. Okay. That's what I'm saying. But there will be, it will be a panel
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:00):
.
Jacque Pregont (36:01):
at 10 30. And then at noon we have the luncheon where, there's a ticket for the luncheon, obviously. And we're up at Benedictine College then. And they do a fabulous job. We have a lovely lunch, and she'll be the featured speaker, and then we present her with the award. And so that's really the only two ticketed events of the whole weekend. Otherwise
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:17):
It's free.
Jacque Pregont (36:17):
And Yes. Otherwise things are free. I mean, there, there's lots of craft vendors. You can spend money if you want to. There are lots of craft vendors
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:24):
And we encourage it. Yes, we do. To support the foundation. We do
Jacque Pregont (36:26):
Absolutely <laugh>. and we also have, Hangar wonderful food vendors. then Saturday night, obviously it's also free, it's on the riverfront. Again, we have food vendors and, Hangar all kinds of fun things to do. But we do an air show.
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:40):
Yes. I'm looking at this, the aerobatic performances. And then we
Jacque Pregont (36:44):
Have
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:44):
Concert in the sky, what
Page 32 of 48
Jacque Pregont (36:45):
We call the concert in the sky, because it is fireworks set to music. That's
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:48):
Incredible. So yeah,
Jacque Pregont (36:48):
It's pretty cool. And again, all day Saturday there's music, there's a children's block of entertainment. So it's all geared toward kids. Okay. That is lots of fun and games. And, and most of them are free. There's some pony rides that are charge and a couple of things, but most of it's free. So it's, Hangar what we try to be is just a really good weekend for entire families to come and have fun. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:10):
Right.
Jacque Pregont (37:11):
Very
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:11):
Family
Jacque Pregont (37:11):
Friendly, something for everybody. Yeah. And so, we all pray for Good July weather,
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:17):
<laugh>. Yes. Yes. In the middle of Kansas.
Jacque Pregont (37:19):
You never know. Can weather can get in our way sometimes, but, other than getting hot, we've been pretty fortunate. Yeah. And it's just a lot of fun. It's, Hangar the birthplace obviously is open. . The museum is open.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:31):
And so the birthplace is what her grandparents' home. That is your grandparents' home
Jacque Pregont (37:34):
Tour? It.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:35):
Yes. Okay.
Jacque Pregont (37:35):
You can, and it is open, information for that too is, is on the flyer and it will be, the chamber. if you go to the Visit Atchison website
Page 33 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:45):
. Then
Jacque Pregont (37:46):
We have our own little thing at the top of
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:48):
The page
Jacque Pregont (37:49):
Okay. Where you could just click on Amelia Earhart and then it tells all about the birthplace, both museums.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:53):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (37:54):
Hangar it'll tell all about everything. Amelia.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:56):
So do you guys get, do you get a lot of like international interests? I mean, you mentioned that you've had 21 countries people
Jacque Pregont (38:04):
Represented. We actually, we do. And it's interesting because, a few years ago, Hangar the ladies in dairy were the first one they actually contacted us. Okay. And so we've actually gotten to be good friends. We have four of them coming to our event again this year. Okay. And because of that, partnership, now we've started reaching out to some of those other cities. . Like in Newfoundland, where she left, went on her flight, Hangar in Wales, they're two years away from their big celebration mm hmm . Hangar so we are now on, we all do, zoom calls where we all can kind of help each other. Right. Yeah. That's incredible. and, and talk about different activities that we could do, ways that we can coordinate with each other. . Or, or just be moral support. Right? Sure. Because anything like this, like the festival, it's a lot of fundraising to keep it all free. . It takes fundraising. And, and so that's what they're all trying to do as well, is they wanna have events and they want as much free as possible
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:00):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (39:00):
For people. So it's, it's convincing people that your story is important enough that they could help you support it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:07):
Page 34 of 48
Yeah. Yeah. And are there other, maybe cities around the country that do other things to honor her, her, or is it really just you guys? Obviously you guys have the most impressive destination. You know, there's
Jacque Pregont (39:18):
Not, I mean, decades apart, but there are, there are, Hangar designations . At other places. for instance, we have a lovely lady that is, she's now on the board at the muse but she is gonna do, Hangar also an event out at our museum on Friday morning. Okay. no Friday afternoon about, Hangar the Boston years, Amelia, her Boston years. Okay. She's gonna do that Friday afternoon out at the museHangar which will be very interesting. And she's been very instrumental. She's from there and she's been very instrumental in making sure there are plaques . In proper places, you know. Okay. And let's not forget that Amelia was here too.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:55):
Is that where she spent her adult years? Hangar
Jacque Pregont (39:57):
The
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:58):
Majority.
Jacque Pregont (39:58):
She moved so much.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:59):
Oh, she did. Okay.
Jacque Pregont (40:00):
that until they were married, and then of course they were in New York and Okay. but I think it's just important for all those places . To recognize, remember the history of her that you have. Right. Yeah. Hangar and so, we obviously, are in contact with her and, and she's coming this year. She's on the board at the museum now, so she'll be in town a couple times a year probably. Yeah. But it's, Hangar there's not any place with what we have. Yeah, no doubt in the country. Right? Yeah. I think, you know, when you look at Wales and you look at Newfoundland and you look at those places they, where she landed . Where, Hangar those kind of things kind of give you a little bit more to build on. Sure.
Mindy Hargesheimer (40:43):
Sure. Yeah. So do we talk about the recent story that came out? What was that last year that they thought they found another image of a piece of the plane and somebody was gonna go down to wherever this island was? Whatever happened with that? And how often are you guys hearing that? 'cause I'm sure general public, we're not hearing every time someone's like, we think we now Right. Can close the, you know
Jacque Pregont (41:06):
Page 35 of 48
.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:06):
The gap in the story. Well,
Jacque Pregont (41:07):
let's see, two years ago Right. Would've been where there was the image of a thing that looked exactly like a
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:13):
Party as it been two years. Okay.
Jacque Pregont (41:15):
I think so.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:15):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (41:15):
Well, 'cause I'm already in this year, so Yes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:17):
Right, right, right. Yeah. No, I'm sure you're right.
Jacque Pregont (41:19):
So, that happened far enough before the festival. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:23):
That
Jacque Pregont (41:23):
We talked to him and we actually had him, and we brought an entire panel for the festival and talked about, we had people, Hangar his group and we had people from nco . We had several, Hangar panel that all talked about is, is it possible? And, and right away some said it's possible. We had people that said it's possible but not probable. and then we found out it wasn't her plane at all. Did
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:48):
They find out what? It was just
Jacque Pregont (41:50):
A rock formation that just happened to look like an airplane <laugh>. But the thing to keep in mind with those, Hangar and then people are going, ah, but that is so deep in the ocean that even if it had been . The cost to get something that could go deeper, I mean, it, it, it's astronomical. So we are
Page 36 of 48
excited right now because NCO is planning an exhibition and, Hangar to go look again and they're getting closer. I think they're raising money right now.
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:23):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (42:24):
And so they have, what they have done is rebuilt a radio that is the radio that they would've used at that time. So they've rebuilt that radio and they think because of that, then they can take her signals
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:39):
.
Jacque Pregont (42:40):
That are recorded and they can figure out a pretty close area of where that plane should be.
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:47):
And NCOs is who?
Jacque Pregont (42:49):
NCOs is a group that, there's a gentleman named Jordan. Okay. his last name is Jordan. And he, he's looked for, he's gone before, they've been around for a long time.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:00):
So he's been on a mission to, and they have been on
Jacque Pregont (43:01):
A mission for a long, long time. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:03):
But
Jacque Pregont (43:04):
They, since they've put this radio back together and we, they were at the festival last year, we had representatives from there. They . I've been told they'll be there again this year. and another person that's come to our festival a lot, Amelia Rose Earhart, who is not related, but thought she was, oh my gosh. Has, has become a real friend of ours. Of ours personally, but also of the festival. . And, she is working with NCOs on this.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:29):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (43:29):
So, Hangar helping them promote it
Page 37 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:32):
. And
Jacque Pregont (43:32):
Hangar so they will bring updated information this year to the festival as well, where they're at in that,
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:38):
Obviously it keeps the spirit of Amelia alive for the foundation and the museum like we talked about before. But why do we think that they wanna continue to try to find something that happened so long ago?
Jacque Pregont (43:52):
Because they can
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:54):
<laugh>. 'cause they just can do it. They're
Jacque Pregont (43:56):
Just, they're, anytime you have a mystery, people wanna solve it. Sure.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:59):
Right.
Jacque Pregont (43:59):
I mean,
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:00):
Even more today. Yeah. We live in the world. More in the world all the time. Yeah. .
Jacque Pregont (44:03):
And, and I used to always say that I didn't want him to find her. 'cause I think the mystery is part of it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:08):
I did wonder if you guys are like, yeah,
Jacque Pregont (44:10):
I think that's me personally.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:11):
Yeah. I can see that being that speaking
Jacque Pregont (44:12):
Page 38 of 48
For the foundation . I just think it's, that's part of the mystery. But I also have to believe now that as technology progresses . And gets better, they will find it eventually now. So Interesting. Now they will, they be, it's gonna be maybe a long time before they can figure out a way to bring it up and not destroy it. Mm . But the interesting thing I learned with the event two years ago was having scientific people tell me, because I'm, you know, I'm thinking airplane hits the water. It's pieces. Sure. Right. It's all, but that's not how it happens. And what they're telling us is that if it's that far down in the ocean . It is cold down there, it's also quiet. 'cause I'm thinking ocean waves, you know? Yeah. No, at the bottom they say it's quiet. Okay. So it could be fairly intact . But how do you get it up?
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:59):
.
Jacque Pregont (45:00):
Right? Yeah. How does it come up? So it's all just really interesting. Yeah. So I still say I, in my mind, I just soon we not know. Right. But I think eventually we're going to Yeah. And, NCO thinks that they have, I mean, other people have thought. Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:16):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (45:16):
So we'll see.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:17):
But they might be onto something new.
Jacque Pregont (45:18):
We'll see. They may be.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:19):
We were talking before about my mom being in a book club . And she is reading this book. what are some books that you like? What is that book? I have the picture of it. That book
Jacque Pregont (45:29):
Is the, the title is Lost.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:31):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (45:31):
And then it has some extra added onto the title. written, Hangar just released this week, the 3rd of March, I believe it was released. Okay. and again, she used to work for National Geographic. I've started it. I've got so much other stuff on my plate. I haven't had enough time. You have a little festival coming up to plan. Wanted to read, but I love the way she's written it. Um,
Page 39 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:53):
What is the premise of that?
Jacque Pregont (45:55):
She talks about Amelia's life and, but then she intercedes all these different ideas of what happened to her theories. Right. And she talks about them and, and, in what I've read so far, then kind of goes through the steps of proving and or disproving.
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:09):
So it's nonfiction.
Jacque Pregont (46:11):
It is.
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:11):
And is she just an enthusiast for Amelia Earhart for Women in History, or what is I think
Jacque Pregont (46:18):
So. I know she's written other books. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:20):
Jacque Pregont (46:21):
Again, I'm, I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:23):
With her. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause she'll be here, you said? Yeah. Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (46:25):
She will. then probably the other book is the one that came out just a year ago Festival time, so a year ago in July.
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:32):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (46:33):
And, that is one that is, Hangar and I'm not gonna be able to think of the title of it. That's
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:37):
Okay. We'll find it.
Jacque Pregont (46:38):
I'll
Page 40 of 48
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:39):
Find it after. Yeah, yeah.
Jacque Pregont (46:40):
but it's in depth. Okay. I mean,
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:43):
If
Jacque Pregont (46:44):
You wanna dig in depth it . She researched it. Hangar and I met Lori, the author when she came to Atchison to do research on her book. . And she's from New York City. She doesn't drive. Okay. So, you know, our, our museum is kind of out, so she took an Uber to our museum.
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:00):
Okay. Love it. And then you
Jacque Pregont (47:01):
Probably
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:01):
Don't have a lot of Ubers coming to the museum. No,
Jacque Pregont (47:03):
We don't. And then the girl at the museum called me and she said, this author's here. And she said, I've got people coming and can you come and show her around? So yeah, I was fortunate enough to be introduced and, we've become pretty good buddies. She often says I'm her BFF in Kansas, but I think she has 'em all over the states. Yeah. Because she spent over four years researching the book. Well, and, and digging and
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:23):
Digging and digging. This is why I find it so interesting. Like, I'm the person who wants to know a little bit about a lot of things. . And then you have the opposite. Right. And the spectrum of people who know so many things about one topic. Yes. And that's why, like, you know, doing this podcast, I think it's really fun to talk to different people and incorporate all these things that are related to Kansas or Kansas City in some capacity, like Amelia Earhart, because I know there are tons of people that love anything that is led by a successful woman or love the world of aviation or stem or historians or the mystery, the unsolved mystery. You know, it touches on so many different things. It does. It kind of meets a different audience everywhere, so. Absolutely. Yeah. I thought it would be really fun to talk about. So
Jacque Pregont (48:02):
Her book would be the depth Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:03):
Page 41 of 48
If
Jacque Pregont (48:04):
You really wanna dig into it. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:05):
Hangar
Jacque Pregont (48:06):
And I mean, she's gotten some grief for it from
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:08):
Family.
Jacque Pregont (48:09):
Oh,
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:09):
Sure. Oh yeah. So family who's still around of her family.
Jacque Pregont (48:13):
Hangar not much anymore, sadly. Yeah. her, Amelia's, sister. . Muriel, passed away. Muriel's daughter, Amy, she had two kids, Amy and David. . Amy just passed away not too long ago.
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:33):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (48:34):
And so the oth the, the authors, we also do a, author's ex kind of a author's event. Yeah. (48:43):
We do an author's event at the museum. And, so this year Amy passed away and she had finished a book right before she passed away. Okay. So her son Bram . And that would be Amelia's great nephew, <laugh>. Oh my gosh. Yes. Will bring that book and talk about it. Okay. 'cause it came out March 5th. Okay. So we'll have two new books. they're both new. Good timing. They're newly, newly published this summer at the festival. Yeah. and so look forward to that as well. Bram, the family's been wonderful with us. Yeah, that's awesome. Hangar working through, as you know, her image is protected. Yeah. and so there's a lot of people out there that once in a while get in trouble for using protected images, whoever they are. Yeah. Hangar but the family's been wonderful to us, for using her image for our festival and, and those kind of things. So, Hangar I'm excited to have both of those books this summer. I think that'll be great.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:34):
That'll, that's, yeah. That's really fun. I'll definitely find those too and show people where they can check those out. Yeah. That
Page 42 of 48
Jacque Pregont (49:39):
Book is Oceans to cross.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:40):
Any good documentaries or movies that you would recommend?
Jacque Pregont (49:43):
You know what, they're, they're in the process of making a new one. Oh, they're CN is, yes. Okay. Yes. They're working on a new one right now, so I will obviously look forward to that. . I think probably a, a really interesting thing, about, and I mentioned before we actually started the podcast about Bob Ballard and his work with Nat Geo to try to find the plane mm hmm . And, they did, Hangar national Geographic did a two hour docdocumentary on that. And it's very interesting. And a lot of that took place. Hangar all the filming of Bob Ballard before they went out was done with our plane
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:19):
Hangar
Jacque Pregont (50:19):
before we were even in the museum. Yeah. We had it, we had it, the plane stored in a another hangar because we hadn't built the museum yet. And it's very interesting. Okay. Hangar talks a little bit about the, the search for it. Yeah. And, and he was wonderful. They came and then they came back after the search
and did a whole thing for all the high school kids. Love it in our community and, and stuff. So that's probably a good one. I mean, there are some that I don't think are great. Sure. But, but I, I enjoyed watching that one. Yeah. Okay. I definitely wanna look it up. It's, I love a
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:50):
Good documentary.
Jacque Pregont (50:51):
I still think it's on the Nat Geo channel on
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:53):
Tv,
Jacque Pregont (50:54):
I
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:54):
Think. And how cool that you guys get to work with Nat Geo.
Jacque Pregont (50:57):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:57):
Page 43 of 48
I mean,
Jacque Pregont (50:57):
They're great.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:58):
Not a lot of people have that opportunity in life. So they
Jacque Pregont (51:00):
Came to the festival one year very
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:02):
Esteemed.
Jacque Pregont (51:03):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:04):
People. Sweet.
Jacque Pregont (51:05):
Good people.
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:06):
All right. Anything else that we have not talked about in regards to the foundation? The, the museum and the festival that we wanna ensure people listening can hear about, to get them out there to come support and experience it with their families? You
Jacque Pregont (51:20):
Know, I just think we would love to have people come and enjoy it. Yeah. experience it, Hangar guaranteed fun. . And there's so much to see and do in Atchison, I think. And, and as Amelia
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:32):
That's in here too.
Jacque Pregont (51:33):
Hangar we, we've done a lot. Hangar we've had simple things. We have that flyer that shows a lot of things. We had simple things like our, Hangar WestStar Energy was rebuilding their power thing in the city, and they came and asked us for a timeline and the wall around it, they put the Amelia timeline on of her life. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:50):
Just the attention to detail. Yes.
Jacque Pregont (51:52):
Page 44 of 48
. Yeah. It's just, there's just some fun stuff and, you know, it's just a drive by, just drive and look at it. Yeah. But it's really cool. I photo, so we made up a flyer with all those little things on there. There's also the Amelia Her Earth work. Okay. Hangar that was done, years ago by Stan Heard. Okay. Who many Kansans know . As a crop artist. It was the, Amelia was the first permanent crop art he ever did. Oh,
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:15):
Interesting. I was gonna say, I saw that photo. So it's still there. Yes,
Jacque Pregont (52:18):
It is. he came, oh gosh, it's probably been five or six years ago now. We called and said she needs a facelift. So <laugh>.
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:24):
Oh yeah. She came and she could use a haircut,
Jacque Pregont (52:26):
Redid some of the stone work. but, Hangar so yeah, it's still there. So that's something to see. I think there's,
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:32):
How can you see it? Do you, how can you We
Jacque Pregont (52:34):
Well, there's a drive through the park. It's at Warnock Lake. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:37):
And,
Jacque Pregont (52:37):
And you can drive and kind of get obvi the best way to see it's in a helicopter.
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:41):
I know. I'm, do you do helicopter tours there? You
Jacque Pregont (52:43):
Can drive up through, Hangar and kind of get a,
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:46):
An
Jacque Pregont (52:46):
Angle view of it Nice.
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:48):
Page 45 of 48
So
Jacque Pregont (52:48):
That you can see it. It's an acre acre
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:50):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (52:50):
Plot of Amelia Earhart. Cool.
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:52):
Yeah. I definitely wanna check that out.
Jacque Pregont (52:53):
So,
Mindy Hargesheimer (52:53):
Well, and as somebody who loves fashion now, I wanna go down the whole rabbit trail of understanding her background and being a designer.
Jacque Pregont (53:00):
And she,
Mindy Hargesheimer (53:01):
I mean, I had no idea. Yeah. That's wild. I love that.
Jacque Pregont (53:05):
Fun stuff.
Mindy Hargesheimer (53:05):
Well, sweet. Okay. So where can, how can people support, the foundation and festival and everything to keep it going and alive and thriving?
Jacque Pregont (53:13):
To find more information? Visit atchison.com. That's our Chambers website. Okay. And, Hangar there's a little thing about Amelia up there that has then links to . All the, both museums. Okay. It has a link to the festival and all the information. Perfect. and our brochure just came, so I'm sure Jill's probably already got it uploaded Yeah. On the website. and I think anything there otherwise. Yeah. Hangar then you can also, from there, you could go to the foundation and
Mindy Hargesheimer (53:39):
To make a donation or Yes. And the Hangar Museum
Jacque Pregont (53:42):
Page 46 of 48
Website as
Mindy Hargesheimer (53:42):
Well. Very good. Yes. And there's a gift shop in the Hangar Museum. There is a, so is a gift shop in
Jacque Pregont (53:46):
The Hangar Museum. Lots of fun. And again,
Mindy Hargesheimer (53:48):
Just
Jacque Pregont (53:48):
Try to have things for all price points, all ages, and books. Like I said previously, everything from just a picture book. Yeah. If you have one or board books. We've got little board books that are so cute all the way up to the really detailed, Hangar you know, there are books. I mean, there's, there's books we recommend as the best biography.
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:07):
Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (54:08):
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:09):
Good gift ideas for people. Absolutely. Looking for something different. Absolutely. Local. Yeah. All that. Yeah.
Jacque Pregont (54:14):
Good
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:14):
Way to learn about Amelia. Yes. Well, this has been great. Really, really interesting. I'm excited to get to the museum. I'm excited and I'm hoping we can come to the festival too, but the girls are definitely coming. Our family is coming. I'm gonna get my mom and her book club to come too <laugh>. Oh yeah. yeah. But I'm excited to check it out and see it. And you know, it's really funny and sad. I didn't realize how close it is to Kansas City. I was thinking it's like, oh, probably a three hour drive. No, what is it? No,
Jacque Pregont (54:37):
It's close
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:38):
45 minutes from KC or something. So Yeah,
Jacque Pregont (54:40):
Page 47 of 48
We're, yeah, we're 35, 40 minutes from KCI.
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:42):
Yeah. Yeah. That's perfect. So it's great. Yeah. Super convenient for all of us that are around this area, so, well thank you so much for coming in. Oh,
Jacque Pregont (54:50):
Thanks
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:50):
For
Jacque Pregont (54:50):
Having me.
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:51):
It's been fun. So appreciate your time. And it's so fun. You've got your pin on, I think, too. I do, right? Yeah,
Jacque Pregont (54:55):
We do a button every year. sell 'em, sell 'em for $2.
Mindy Hargesheimer (54:59):
Okay.
Jacque Pregont (54:59):
And that money goes towards the fireworks display.
Mindy Hargesheimer (55:01):
Perfect. Yes. Which we're definitely gonna have to check that out. Hopefully you guys have a good, Hangar videographer or somebody who's, we do capturing that, so we do. Awesome. Well, thanks so much. It was great chatting with you.
Jacque Pregont (55:10):
Thank you. Appreciate your time. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (55:13):
Thank you so much for tuning in and finding inspiration in these incredible stories. If you love what you hear, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Leave a rating and share the show to help these Kansas City voices reach even more listeners.