Redbud Trail Rendezvous

Redbud Trail Rendezvous brings frontier living, music and dancing

Rendezvous fans - The Redbud Trail Rendezvous will take place April 26-27 rain or shine, at the Fulton County Historical Society grounds four miles north of Rochester on US 31 and Tippecanoe River. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for children age 6 to 11, and free for children age 5 and under. Proceeds enable the historical society to operate the museum and preserve history. The event is held from 10 to 5 on Saturday and from 10 to 4 on Sunday. If flooding occurs the festival is still take place at the north end of the property in the Living History Village called Loyal, Indiana.

There is no admission charge to see the Fulton County Museum at the north end of the grounds. Volunteers can earn free admission to the Redbud Trail Rendezvous by working half a day. To volunteer, call the museum at 574-223-4436. Free parking is provided on FCHS grounds. The grounds are handicapped accessible. Plenty of free benches are available to sit and rest. For more information, see the web page at www.icss.net/~fchs.

Re-enactors from five states are gearing up for the Redbud Trail Rendezvous. Every spring it is one of the first outdoor events of the season. This event is brimming with frontier history and often brings surprises for the participants and public.

The April weather varies but the redbud trees and wild flowers in the woods are in full bloom and it is a lovely natural setting. Wild ducks, wild turkey and eagle nests are seen on the grounds. Hundreds of historic re-enactors set up camps and live outdoors for the event, demonstrating traditional crafts, frontier life ways, and pioneer skills such as cooking over wood fires, muzzle loading shooting and tomahawk throwing. The event is educational and fun, showing authentic frontier history as re-enacted by real people.

Music and dance will be performed on a stage in the woods, starting at noon each day with a different program every half hour. New this year we will have John Dunnagan of the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana. Other old-time favorite programs include Mark Gropp with bagpipe music, Frontier Frolic - pioneer dancing by the teenage re-enactors, Liza and Mark Woolever - music and songs, and American Indian dancers and stories. Kim Hoover of Hoots to Howls Wildlife Rehabilitation, Star City, will show wild birds and animals she rescued. Marsha Glassburn, Rochester; will tell Native American stories on the west side of Chippeway Village and Andy's Gospel Puppets by Brent Blough, Elkhart; will be in the frontier blab school. Nan Edwards and Margo Moore, Watervliet, Mich.; will have their travois dogs and stroll the grounds.

People dressed in authentic pre-1840 outfits demonstrate many traditional crafts. Crafts included are flintknapping, pottery wheel, beadwork, spinning and weaving, tatting and knitting, leather, wood carving, blacksmith, blade smith, fingerweaving, rug making, and much more. Old-time favorites for the children the Shultz family will be here with their goats for all to enjoy.

Many trade goods and hand-made items used for frontier living will be offered for sale or barter in merchant's historic marquee tents and by blanket traders. Many of the traders have Indian ancestry. Traders come from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and other states.

Muzzle loading shooting contests will be held. Earl Whittaker, Peru, is the range officer. He is a member of the Me-to-cin-yah Long-Rifles, which portrays woodsmen of the frontier with a camp by the river. They will host the Chippeway Village Trading Post. The Me-to-cin-yahs includes Scott and Terri Henthorn, Akron, who are members of the Redbud Trail Rendezvous steering committee.

Foods cooked over wood fires will include ham and beans, vegetable stew, buffalo burgers, sassafras tea. - Fulton County Historical Society booth; caramel corn - made in big iron kettles by Dennis Thompson, Converse; apple sausage and breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy - Five Friends led by Eric Pontius, Akron; homemade fudge and cookies - Mark Gropp, Wolcottville.

J. H. Northrop, Akron, announced that they will hold a Seven Year War Brigade Depot School. Demonstrations by the Haverhill Militia and the Haverhill Militia Troop of Horse will be taking place at the north end of the property in the Living History Village. They will work on the basics of the manual of arms and also do programs on field fortifications and battalion exercise. They will march around the grounds applying their learning to a series of obstacles and scenarios. The group will also be doing cannon demonstrations.

Pictures available upon request or you can use pictures from our web page www.icss.net/~fchs/redbud.htm

Red Bud Trail Rendezvous Schedule

Schedule subject to change.

Click here to view photo album.

Want to participate? Send for an application!

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