Rendezvous at the Straits Powwow

Imagine having a time machine and you have the opportunity to travel back in history. You are invited to witness a part of history not so long ago. You travel back to 1690 through 1750 or even 1800 through 1850, the machine stops, and you step out and look around. You have selected the Rendezvous at the Straits French Voyager re-enactment and Powwow being presented at the New France Discovery Center in St. Ignace on August 28 & 29, 2010.

This year’s event is the beginning of a cultural heritage celebration that brings together the history of the Straits’ early years of fur trading. This celebration is really two events in one with a French voyager encampment demonstrating, among other things, native and French cooking; French woodworking; native and French sewing, including native sinew production; native and French transportation, by birch bark and dugout canoes, snowshoes, and toboggan along with the display of an historic and traditionally built Mackinac boat with an emphasis on native youth sail training.

Other representations will show how to sew cattail mats with cordage of inner basswood bark, along with birch bark containers, brain-tanning a deer hide and making wampum shell beads. Many home made items will be available for sale on the trade blanket.

For more information, visit the website:  www.rendezvousatthestraits.com

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