Rendezvous at the Fort

Name: Rendezvous at the Fort
Start: 2015-10-10T00:00:00
End: 2015-10-12T00:00:00
Location: Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters

Oct 10, 2015 to Oct 11, 2015

Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters 1824 WI 33, Portage, Wisconsin 53901

October 1, 2015

1:56 PM

Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters recreates a ‘Rendezvous at the Fort’ in Portage, which convenes at 10 a.m. on Saturday Oct. 10 with Wisconsin Frontier re-enactments, Native stories, comedy and crafts, canoe rides, and theatre. The event wouldn’t be a rendezvous without a Pie Bake Off and pumpkin painting.

Highlights include Native finger weaving and stories with Audrey O’Kimosh of the Menominee Nation; Irish folk fiddling plus a paddle dance workshop by Joni Welda; Native dance class and music with Ho-Chunk championship singer Forrest Funmaker; Blacksmith and Longhunter re-enactments with Art Briant and Jon Welda. Throughout the day there will be staged readings of Earl Rhode’s children’s book “The Little River That Could” accompanied by fiddle and Native flute.

Canoe rides are scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Fox River from the Surgeons Quarters to the willow tree half mile upriver where the Fox turns north.

At 6 p.m. Drs. Gartner and Zolidis present “How Geography and Geology Conspired to Create ‘the Portage’” with some dueling hand drum and fiddle from Funmaker and Welda.

Starting at Noon on Sunday, new interpretive signs at the historic site will be dedicated by the Boy Scout troop that designed and intstalled them.

At 2 p.m. look for a Special Frontier Presentation with Cheryl Michler, the direct descendant of the fur traders who built the 1820 log cabin now called the Surgeons Quarters. She is also a descendant of Glory of the Morning, first woman to be chief of the Ho-Chunk. The Shabazz High School Fiddlers will stroll the grounds as prologue and epilogue to the story of Michler’s genealogy.

The Surgeons Quarters Historic Site is owned and operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and is located at 1824 E State Rd 33, Portage, WI 53901. Events and canoe rides are free, turkey plate, kettle corn, and pie is available for purchase on Sat. Bake Off contestants are asked to register pies at the Surgeons Quarters on Sat. by 10:30 a.m. for judging. Pumpkin painting supplies will be provided – bring your own pumpkin or buy one on site.

Info at (608) 742-2949 or fwsq.wsdar@gmail.com.