Gus’ Welcome Party at the Museum on Main

The Museum on Main is throwing a welcome party for Gus, the Christensen’s store horse, and everyone is invited! The party will be on the Museum on Main’s front lawn on March 26th from 10am-12pm.

Gus has been a part of the community here in Pleasanton for nearly five decades. From 1975 to 2021, Gus greeted passersby outside of Christesen’s clothing and tack store. Founded by Danish immigrants Peter Christesen and Andrew Greve in 1929, Christesen’s began as a men’s and boy’s clothing store. In the 1950s Christesen bought the building next store and expanded his inventory to tack, riding gear and western wear for men and women. In 1974, two years after Pete Christesen’s death, Stan Janes bought the store from the family. Janes introduced Gus to Main Street shortly after taking the reins. After their decision to close shop Stan’s son Rory arranged for the Museum to adopt Gus as an icon of Main Street’s history.

Gus moved to the museum in February and since then has greeted visitors to Main Street each day from his new perch in the Museum’s front yard.  He is wheeled out each morning and wheeled back into the museum in the evenings, just as when he was at Christensen’s. "Gus has been very popular, and it's really gratifying to see how many people have come up to see him since he's moved down to our front yard," says Museum Curator Ken McLennan.  “As popular as he has been, we felt a Main Street icon like Gus deserves a big welcome party.”

To celebrate, the Museum will have Gus photo opportunities, crafts including wooden horses and horseshoes to color, horse crowns, as well as a fun horse racing game with prizes! The Meadowlark Dairy has generously donated tokens for a free ice cream, which will be given out by drawing to a select group of lucky attendees at 11:00am.  The museum will also honor Christesen’s and Rory Janes, former owner of Gus and Pleasanton’s beloved western wear store at 11am.  Baughman’s, Janes’ western outfitters store in downtown Livermore, will have a promotional booth at the event. The museum will also be partnering with Big Bay Ray, a local nonprofit that raises money to support local horse rescue organizations. They will be selling their popular tote and wine bags, which are sewn by local volunteers out of recycled animal feed bags. They will also be onsite to share more about their mission.

Bring your friends and family to celebrate with the Museum on Main and welcome Gus to his new home at the Museum on March 26th from 10:00am – 12:00pm. You won’t want to miss this fun and special event!

The Museum on Main is located at 603 Main Street in historic downtown Pleasanton.  It is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information about current exhibits and programs, visit the Museum’s web site at www.museumonmain.org or phone (925) 462-2766.