D-Day Remembrance at Price of Freedom Museum
Published 10:10 pm Sunday, June 1, 2025
On Saturday, June 7, the Price of Freedom Museum will celebrate its biggest event of the year with the D-Day Remembrance. Doors open at 9 a.m. and will remain open until 3 p.m. The opening ceremony is set for 10 a.m. in the parking lot with guest speaker Travis Allen, sheriff of Rowan County.
The museum has been undergoing extensive work over the last year. Exhibits have been updated and remodeled and new displays have been added.
While the focus of the museum remains on the various armed services and their separate rooms of exhibits, new and expanded exhibits have received extensive attention. An updated “Do You Remember?” room now includes a replica of the Mault Brothers’ Texaco Service Station counter with life size images of Bob and Ruby Mault. Bob Mault founded the Price of Freedom Museum after many years of collecting uniforms and other materials at his Texaco station at the intersection of N.C. Highways 152 and 153.
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The “Do You Remember?” room also has a new section of Fellowship Park memorabilia, a popular gathering place where church softball games drew local families for many years. The museum is seeking more memorabilia from that era including photos, uniforms and related items from Fellowship Park, also called Five Forks Ballpark. The First Responders Tribute Room has been updated as well.
The museum board wants to invite Patterson School alumni and staff to attend on June 7. The Price of Freedom building was originally built as Patterson School and served schoolchildren from the area from 1936 to 1076. The museum plans a reunion of alumni in 2026, the 90th anniversary of the school opening.
An ongoing fundraiser with the intent to add attic insulation to the entire museum is underway. $15,000 is needed to complete the project with $8,900 received so far. When finished, the thousands of uniforms and artifacts will be protected by year-round temperature control. Among those items that need temperature and humidity control are 75 original wartime paintings of local artist John Hartley.
The Freightliner “Ride of Pride” tribute truck will be on hand. Food will be available. All attendees are admitted free at the museum, located at 2420 Weaver Road, China Grove. For more information, call Bobby Harrison at 704-202-3301.
