Left: The Dainty Voyageur Contest is one of many competitions and games that will again be featured during the Grand Portage Rendezvous Days at the national monument. Above: Autumn Clearwater- Day was among the many talented dancers who participated in last year’s pow wow.
Load up your canoe and prepare to embark on an historical adventure! August 11 – 13 marks the annual Rendezvous Days and Pow Wow at Grand Portage, Minnesota. Voyageur songs, Ojibwe drums, and Highland bagpipes mix as the Montreal canoe brigades, native peoples, fur traders, and North West Company partners gather for their annual rendezvous and traditional Ojibwe Pow Wow.
Did you know, that the British North West Company “masqueraded” as the French during the Great Lakes fur trade era? Come to Grand Portage and make your own “French Connection”!
This year’s event focuses on the French influence in not only the fur trade, but in the Ojibwe culture and the settlement of areas beyond the Great Lakes through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan.
Former seasonal park ranger, Dr. Eugene Tesdahl, University of Wisconsin- Platteville, researched the French presence at Grand Portage for an exhibit about early French influences shared with visitors during his tenure at Grand Portage National Monument. The following paraphrases Dr. Tesdahl’s exhibit text:
“Long before the formal organization of the British- Canadian North West Company at Grand Portage in 1784, Native Americans exchanged goods and cultural influences with the French in trade for furs. The earliest French colonies in the New World in the 1500-1600s based their settlements’ economies on the trade of ‘soft gold’ (animal skins).
“Though the famous North West Company was a British-Canadian Company, it was continually influenced and molded by the French who came before them. Knowing that the Cree, Ojibwe, and other tribes preferred trading with the French before British control, the North West Company masqueraded as a French company. Shareholders, clerks, and voyageurs alike were recruited at Montreal in the heart of French Canada and French voyageurs still paddled canoes full of trade goods and furs for the company. The company also constructed the fur depot to Grand Portage in the French styles of Poteaux sur Sole (post on sill) and Poteaux en Terre (post in the ground).”
Even today in Grand Portage one can feel the presence of the French in language. No one recognizes “Big Marsh” or “Great Carrying Place,” Minnesota, yet Grand Marais and Grand Portage are easily recognized. Also many French family surnames of members of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa serve as a reminder of French/native intermarriage during the fur trade. Even as the Grand Portage today serves as a vital link between the Pigeon River and Lake Superior for modern canoeists and hikers, the legacy of the French lingers on.
This year’s Rendezvous will highlight this fascinating part of our history. There is a lot to discover! Grand Portage National Monument and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will commemorate French influence with a variety of activities including programs presented by Ken Hamilton, a nationally recognized French fur trade historian. Join us Friday at 10 a.m. for our opening drum ceremony presented by Grand Portage Stone Bridge Singers, and stay for Hamilton’s “History of Great Lakes Native Drum and Song.” On Friday afternoon, Hamilton will present programs on the French material culture with particular attention to the history of trade knives. And on Saturday you can visit with him in our Voyageur Encampment to talk about the French Fur Trade of North America.
Our opening ceremony will serve as a fitting backdrop to all the traditional favorites of Rendezvous, but this year many come with a “French Twist” including: French music, French cooking, French material culture and historical demonstrations, and a French game of skill called Boules (a French version of English lawn bowling). Come learn how to play! Watch and learn about traditional lacrosse and cheer on your favorite team in a live lacrosse match. Hear stories and songs of the voyageurs. Learn about the daily lives of Ojibwe people, French voyageurs, and the European partners of the famed British North West Company. Making a return to the event this year is La Compagnie de La Verendrye of Winnipeg, a historical re-enactment French militia unit.
Other special activities at Rendezvous this year include musical guests The Booneslick Strings from Missouri playing French folk tunes. Musicians Kelly and Ray James along with other talented musicians return for our 18th Century Music Jam. These professional musicians mix it up and entertain all with a wide variety of music to echo the very tunes their predecessors played to regale those attending Rendezvous in the 1790s. On Saturday afternoon and evening, the North Shore’s own amazing musical ensemble, “Over the Waterfall,” will play tunes for all to dance to under the summer moon over Grand Portage Bay. Come dance, and enjoy the music!
In addition to the music, demonstrations and contests, you can visit with nationally renowned historic firearms expert Mark Sage and 18th century maps/navigation expert Bob Taunt. Event favorites, back again this year, include blacksmiths, and spring pole lathe craftsmen who will offer a workshop on turning a French-style rolling pin.
Explore a reconstructed 1790s fur trade depot, Ojibwe Village, and our historic voyageurs’ encampment. Try your hand at making cornhusk dolls and voyageur action figures, fire starting with flint and steel, and watch as the roughest men of the Old Northwest and the daintiest of ladies compete in a voyageur pentathlon.
The event is open to the general public, with a scavenger hunt, a bead hunt, and a storytelling presentation especially for youngsters. National monument rangers and costumed historical re-enactors help bring history alive in this fun-filled weekend event, which is free and open to everyone.
The Ojibwe pow wow is hosted by the Grand Portage band, and includes traditional food, music, craft stands, softball tournament, a turkey shoot, races, and much more.
This is the weekend to be in Grand Portage—please join us!
For more information on the Rendezvous, contact Grand Portage National Monument at (218) 475- 0123. You can also visit us on the web at www.nps.gov/grpo for an event schedule.
Historical re-enactors wishing to encamp at the Monument and participate in the Rendezvous must be pre-registered.
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