Brownhelm Historical Association will host its annual monthly membership meeting and historical program April 3 at the Historic Brownhelm School and Museum, 1950 North Ridge Road in Vermilion.

The meeting will feature an “Antiques Roadshow”-style event.

As a way to keep history interactive and entertaining, Marcia DePalma, president of the Brownhelm Historical Association, said she came up with the idea to showcase antique gadgets for everyday use and have people guess and describe as many objects as possible.

Tables will be set up with all objects, ideally 20, and guests will have the opportunity to view each one and write their guesses down, DePalma said.

Whoever has the most correct answers, wins, she said.

“There are some older things that we’re going to have that people today just don’t realize were common, that our grandmothers or great-grandmothers had to use before electricity, before they had convenient tools to use,” DePalma said. “They’re everything from tools to kitchen items to barn items.

“I think people are bringing in some very unique items. I have a couple of unusual things.”

Though the organization has not done an event like this, DePalma said she anticipates attendees will be intrigued by the objects that seem “primitive or obsolete now.”

Some people may realize that even though the gadgets look and operate much differently, they can serve the same function as modern tools, she said.

Advances in technology have made lives simpler, and these gadgets are to show not only the progress made with inventions, but also how much more work everyday tasks were at the time these tools were used, DePalma said.

“I think it will be very interesting and fun,” she said. “And maybe to appreciate how far we’ve come with inventions, to appreciate what we have.”

Though events the organization hosts are tied to history in one way or another, they always are planned as interactive and appealing to everyone, according to DePalma.

Aside from getting the community together and new faces into the meeting, the event will allow guests to see the improvements and renovations done to the old Brownhelm school.

“We’re about history, we really are a lot about history and some of these items that we have are unique and historical,” DePalma said. “We’re always trying to come up with some interesting things that would appeal to a lot of people, and be interactive when you can find that.”

The event is free and open to the public.

Doors open at 6 p.m., and refreshments are served at 7.

“I’m hoping to get a younger generation in just to see some of these unique items,” DePalma said. “I would like to get some new members from the community to kind of see some fun stuff that we do.”