Carnegie announces final installment celebrating Portuguese in Kings County

This installment highlights individuals and businesses who have made significant contributions in fields as varied as politics, education, the arts, industry, and especially agriculture. 

Curators Michael Semas and Kathi Mendes Gulley said many of the businesses featured have immigrant roots and have been operating for multiple generations.

“The descendants of the original Portuguese settlers have been able to use the opportunities that their parents and grandparents established by creating farming and business operations that are far beyond any scope that the original immigrants could have ever imagined,” Semas noted. 

Mendes Gulley said the exhibition showcases how most Portuguese immigrants who settled in the Central Valley were uniquely suited to dairying and farming and succeeding in those endeavors.

The Carnegie Museum of Kings County is located at 109 E. Eighth St. in Hanford. Except holidays, the Portuguese exhibition will be open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. except when the museum is between installations. Admission is $5 per person (ages 12 and up), $2 per child up to age 12, and a maximum of $10 per family.