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Last updated on Thursday, October 13, 2011
(VALLONIA) - The 43rd Annual Fort Vallonia Days is this weekend.
Celebrating the pioneer tradition, the festival will allow people to step back in time and experience what it was like in the 1800s with old-time demonstrations on making apple butter, spinning, quilting, braiding rugs, blacksmithing and more.
You can also get a feel of pioneer and Indian life by visiting the tepees and strolling through the fort, which is the main reason the festival was started.
The festival will attract about 30,000 people to the area. Festivities begin Friday at 8 p.m. with a free concert by local band Public Option.
According to the Fort Vallonia Days website, Gen. William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory, ordered a fort be built around 1810 to protect the 90 families in the Vallonia area.
In 1968, several members of the local Lions Club began talking about rebuilding a replica of the old fort and staging a festival to honor Vallonia's heritage. The first Fort Vallonia Days was in 1969 and brought more than 3,000 people to the area.
Other attractions of the festival will include a model steam and old gas engine display, handmade arts and crafts, free entertainment by local groups such as the Stars and Stripes Cloggers, the Mark Robinson Band, the Country Kickers, Mona Fish, Sparkles & Spurs and Captain Backfire, homemade food and lots of flea market and vendor booths.
Schedule of Events:
This year, local band Public Option, made up of doctors and hospital employees, will open the festival by giving a free concert from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday.
Activities on Saturday include a muzzleloader shoot at 9 a.m., baby contest at 10 a.m., parade at 1 p.m., tomahawk and knife throw at 2 p.m. and a karaoke contest at 6 p.m.
The fun will continue on Sunday with a community church service in the Vallonia Gym at 10 a.m., a team corn hole tournament at noon, the annual 5K Run/Walk at noon, the persimmon pudding eating contest at 2:30 p.m. and a performance by the Brownstown Central High School Show Choir at 3 p.m.
For information about the festival, call Corey Baughman at 358-2686.
Fort Vallonia Days schedule
Saturday:
9 a.m. - Fort Vallonia Trail Ride (state riding permit required)
9 a.m. - Muzzle Load Shoot
9:30 a.m. - Registration for Baby Contest
10 a.m. - Live music by the band Captain Backfire
10 a.m. - Baby contest sponsored by Jackson Park Physicians Relay for Life
11 a.m. - Stars and Stripes Cloggers
Noon - Country music with the Mark Robinson Band
1 p.m. - Parade
2 p.m. - Tomahawk and Knife Throw
3 p.m. - Country Music with the Mark Robinson Band
4 p.m. - Western dancing with the Country Kickers
5 p.m. - J.C. O'Neal Country Music
6 p.m. - Karaoke Contest with "Karaoke Music Unlimited" (Richard Lucas) - two age groups: 17 and younger and 18 and older
Sunday:
10 a.m. - Community church service at Vallonia Gym (Trinity Lutheran Church is the host)
11 a.m. - Gospel music with Mona Fish
Noon - Team Corn Hole Tournament, sign-up starts at 10 a.m.
Noon - Sparkles and Spurs Country Western Dancers
Noon - 5K Run/Walk, Brownstown Exchange Club registration
Noon - Persimmon Pudding and Children's Cooking Baking Contest
1 p.m. - 5K Run/Walk begins
1 p.m. - Horseshoe Pitch
1:30 p.m. - Live music by the band Captain Backfire
2:30 p.m. - Persimmon Pudding Eating Contest
3 p.m. - Brownstown Central High School Show Choir
4 p.m. - Drawings
4:30 p.m. - Live music by the band Captain Backfire
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