As spring arrives, many of us are emerging from the doldrums caused by the grayness of winter. At the Chapel Hill Museum, we have a rich, colorful array of programs to help visitors spring back into action and appreciate the rich and colorful heritage of this unique community.

We know that without light, there would be no color, and without the warmth and enriching rays of the sun, there would be none of the botanical wonders that appear at the outset of spring. We may also know that in this special place to live, Chapel Hill and its surrounds, the Chapel Hill Garden Club has spent 73 years encouraging and assisting fellow citizens in presenting their gardens to us in the form of a biennial tour.

The garden club was established in 1931 and has been an active and generous advocate of improving the quality of life in Chapel Hill through the beautification of its environs.

This year, the Garden Club Tour will be April 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tour will feature the gardens of the East Franklin Street area. In conjunction with the tour, the Chapel Hill Museum will open an exhibit titled “History in Bloom: The Chapel Hill Garden Club (1931-2004).” The exhibit will include information on each of the seven decades of the club’s existence and will feature newspaper and magazine articles, photography, scrapbooks, programs and activities that will show the positive contribution of the club and its members. The exhibit will run April 9-June 6.

In the spring, the museum’s School of Traditional Arts, Crafts, and Culture (ChimneyStack) will include a number of classes and workshops that support the garden club’s efforts. For information on these workshops, e-mail Phoenix Miller at Chimneystack@earthlink.net or go to the museum’s Web site at www.chapelhillmuseum.org to see a full Web-based catalog for the spring session.

The spring also brings more than 1,000 fourth-grade students to the museum to learn a little more about the rich history of the town and the state where they live. While at the museum, the children will learn about the life and works of Paul Green, who lived in Chapel Hill for many years as a writer, teacher and performer. He also developed the Greenwood neighborhood, which is the site of the very successful 2002 Garden Tour. The children will have a chance to re-enact scenes from “The Lost Colony,” Green’s tale of the Elizabethan settlers who came to Manteo in North Carolina and mysteriously disappeared.

In addition to educational programs, the museum has colorful exhibitions that will help viewers throw off winter gray. “Dreams in Color” features the works of Minnie Evans (1892-1987), a visionary artist who lived and worked in Wilmington, N.C. For a number of years in the middle part of her life, Evans was the gatekeeper at Airlie Gardens near Wrightsville Beach. Her vibrant colors suggest that tending a garden attuned her senses to the beauty of nature’s colors. A display of her work ends today.

Also on exhibit is the “Farmer/James Collection of North Carolina Art Pottery,” which includes richly colored and beautifully formed pottery dating from the late 1800s through 1950. The work embodies the color and talent that blooms throughout our state. Nancy Farmer and Everette James collected this pottery and have donated it to make it part of the permanent collection of the Chapel Hill Museum. The exhibit will run through the first week in June.

Additionally, “Carolina in My Mind: The James Taylor Story” presents memorabilia from Taylor’s early childhood, including his school reports and his drawings, and items that trace his later career, including Grammies and other awards. Taylor’s father came to Chapel Hill to become the dean of the UNC-CH medical school, and the exhibition gives a rare glimpse into his time in our community, which fostered the talent not only of James, but of his brothers and sisters, who also went on to become accomplished musicians.

Of course, there is color at the museum all year long. Anyone who drives or walks by the museum at dusk or later will see in the front window the pride of the Chapel Hill Fire Department, the red 1914 Model T fire truck, one of the first eight made. It was the first motorized vehicle owned by the Town of Chapel Hill. The museum’s fall education program for second-graders uses the fire truck as the centerpiece for a fire-safety program that includes a visit from Chapel Hill firefighters.

Future exhibits will tell the story of Battle Park through photography and documentation, and there will be an exhibit in the fall on Luther Hodges, advisor to presidents, and a two-term governor of North Cartolina who was instrumental in the creation of the Research Triangle Park.

The Chapel Hill Museum Shop offers many items and books that relate to the exhibits. The shop features works by local potters, weavers, jewelers, writers and artists, including the special prints of the drawings of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, a celebration of the floral beauty of Chapel Hill.

The museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is at 523 E. Franklin St.

Morgan Kenney is executive director of the Chapel Hill Museum.