Members of the public are invited to experience Chippewa County’s 19th century fur trade and lumbering history on May 10-13, on the Chippewa Falls site where some of it actually occurred.
This opportunity is provided by the 15th annual “The Past Passed Here” event sponsored by the Chippewa County Historical Society. It will turn Allen Park into French fur trader camps and lumbering sites, with volunteers re-enacting a myriad of activities.
The event was created in 2003 to provide a field trip for fourth grade students studying Wisconsin history. Some 600 students will spend a day in Allen Park during the first part of next week, participating in a variety of hands-on activities.
That will bring the total to more than 9,000 fourth graders who have had this experience since 2003. The event augments their curriculum and allows them to experience local living history, according to Jim Schuh, co-chair of this year’s activities and a historical society board member.
He said that students will attend this year from Chippewa Falls, Cadott, Fall Creek, Jim Falls, Stanley and Crestview Academy in Eau Claire.
“This event incorporates historic clothing, tents, tools and activities into an interactive presentation that seeks to give participants a sense of stepping back in time.” Schuh said in a press release.
The Allen Park site was the actual location of Native American and French fur trade era camps, he said. Later it was the site of the largest sawmill in the world under one roof.
Nearly 50 volunteers will help with the historical re-enactments this year, including eight from Minnesota and one from Illinois. The others will come from Chippewa Falls and a variety of other Wisconsin communities, many of them nearby but also including Wausau and Madison, Schuh said. Eight of this year’s re-enactment volunteers are new to the event. Additional volunteers will help with such logistical tasks as working the admission gate and the food booth, and event set-up and packing needs.
There will be several new demonstrations available for fourth grade students during the week and for members of the public who attend later. These include how the Ojibwa tribe harvested wild rice and maple syrup, how beeswax candles and ropes are made and how pies are baked on a campfire, Schuh said.
A Mobile Lumbering Museum will be available for tours, and there will be demonstrations of jobs performed by lumberjacks. Old-fashioned foods – including Indian fry bread, buffalo burgers and voyager stew – will be available to sample, as will more contemporary fare such as root beer floats, Olson’s ice cream and fresh pretzels.
The event is open to the public from 3 to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday (May 10 and 11), 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday (May 12) and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday (May 13), Schuh said. Admission is $3, or $10 for a family.
Live music performances are scheduled for 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (Peter Lea – banjo, guitar and vocals); 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday (Bruce Sorenson and friends – fiddle); noon to 3 p.m. Saturday (Isaac Walters – bagpipes); and noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday (Jerry Way performing original songs about local history with guitar and vocals, accompanied by Schuh on percussion).
The event was named the best cultural preservation project in 2006 by the Wisconsin Main Street program, and has also received two Wisconsin Humanities Council grants. More information about it is available at www.facebook.com/ChippewaCountyHistoryCenter.