Stepping back in time

VALLONIA — It may have been the third time 9-year-old Jalen Curry had attended Fort Vallonia Days, but this year he decided it was more than just fun and games and good food.

Curry, a student at Freetown Elementary School, said the best part of the festival is the history it celebrates.

Thousands of visitors from near and far made their way to this small community south of Brownstown on Saturday and Sunday to take part in the 41st annual Fort Vallonia Days.

Walking around Sunday afternoon with his friend, Taylor McElfresh, a third-grade student at Lutheran Central School in Brownstown, Curry said he was impressed by the displays and demonstrations, all of which depicted a different aspect of pioneer life.

“I’m more of a history kind of guy,” Curry said of why he liked the festival.

The boys spent Sunday afternoon inside the replica fort, which is the main reason behind the event.

There they learned the art of blacksmithing and how to spin animal hair into wool for clothing, went inside a tepee and played with old-fashioned wooden games and toys.

Although McElfresh enjoyed the historical points, too, there were other things that caught his attention.

“The games and rides are always fun and the food is good, especially the hamburgers,” McElfresh said.

There were many activities and attractions during the two-day event to keep festivalgoers busy, including the annual parade on Saturday, a corn hole tournament, 5K run/walk and persimmon pudding eating contest on Sunday, as well as craft booths, a flea market, food vendors and live music and entertainment. 

Proceeds from the event go to maintain the fort, its grounds and the museum.

  “This is my first time to go through the museum and the garrison house,” Curry said. “It’s really neat because I like learning about the history of different things.” The garrison house is a restored log cabin that sits in the center of the fort, and the museum, located just outside the fort, houses many artifacts and memorabilia showcasing Vallonia and Driftwood Township’s rich history.

“A lot of hard, painstaking work from a lot of good people went into this,” Chris Peters said of the fort and museum. “We are very proud of our community and it’s always nice to show it off each year during the festival.”

Peters and his wife, Nyra, who live near Vallonia, sat at the entrance to the museum Sunday, signing people in and answering questions from festivalgoers.

One reason the festival and museum attract so many people, as many as 30,000, Peters said, is the way the community has preserved and displayed its history.

“A lot of small communities don’t have this kind of information and records so easily accessible to the public,” he said. “It’s natural to want to come in and look at the history.”

That’s exactly what Diane Bundy Grooms was doing.

Grooms grew up in Vallonia and went to Vallonia High School.

Although she’s moved away from the area, she still comes home for the festival.

“I’ve missed very few,” she said. “I like seeing people that I haven’t seen in a long time and showing my daughter the things I knew and was familiar with.”

This was the first year for her daughter, Suzie Burnett, of Tennessee, to attend Fort Vallonia Days.

“There’s so much history, and I’m really enjoying looking at everything here,” she said of the many displays and items within the museum.

Also enjoying the day Sunday at the festival was the Carney family of Medora. Todd and Sara Carney and their two daughters, Avery, 11, and Alli, 9, visited each of the demonstrations to learn more about pioneer life. 

The family stopped by to watch former Seymour resident Arthur Redinger make tools, toys and other pioneer items from wood. They also tried out a few of the games and toys including a Jacob’s ladder.

“I just like walking around and seeing what everyone is making,” Avery said of the demonstrations.

“We really like everything about it,” Sara said of the festival. “This was our first time to see the spinning and it was really interesting. They put so much time and work into it. The lady said she had over 100 hours in one sweater.”

Mike Wheeler of Hayden said he and his friends have been setting up their tepees and camping in them during the festival for the past 20 years.

“It kind of goes along with the whole pioneer theme,” Wheeler said of the tepees. “Where else can we set up inside a real fort?”

The real reason they do it, he said, is to educate and entertain.

“We do it for the kids and the adults,” he said. “Most of them have never seen anything like this, so it’s fun to be able to show them what living in a tepee would be like.”

Wheeler said he likes the festival because it’s like taking a step back in history.

“I enjoy the atmosphere,” he said. “You can take yourself back to another time.”

For Paul Bray of Seymour, there’s no better way to show off his hobby of blacksmithing.

“It’s a dying art and this is a way we can preserve it for the kids,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Bray allowed volunteers, including Curry and McElfresh, to help keep the fire in the kiln burning by turning a crank that sent air to the embers.

As crowds gathered, Bray hammered out S-hooks and other items from the iron.

“There’s always something different, and that’s what I like about it,” he said of blacksmithing.

Allen Stuckwisch of Seymour said the festival is a great way to educate kids about the past.

“It gets them interested,” Stuckwisch said while watching his grandson, Brandon Hunnicutt, 6, help turn the crank. “I think it’s great that the kids are getting to see this history. They are learning a lot and having fun with it.”