Staff photo/Rhonda Silence The Voyageur camp at the Grand Portage National Monument is a great place to visit during the “Great Rendezvous.”
Load up your canoe and prepare to embark on an historical adventure! August 7 – 8 marks the annual Rendezvous Days and Pow Wow at Grand Portage. 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 pow.
The public is invited to Grand Portage National Monument for this historical celebration. Music, historical demonstrations, and games of skill await. Watch historic baking in the newly constructed outdoor bake oven, see black powder musket firings, and participate in workshops on cornhusk doll making and 18th century tinsmithing. Learn about the daily lives of French voyageurs and the fur traders of the famed British North West Company.
Special to the rendezvous this year will be storytelling by Cook County’s own Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux! Rose is an animated and interactive storyteller with roots in theatre. Whether telling classic tales or creating new legends, her eloquent stories delight children and adults alike.
Also featured as part of the event will be music and waltz lessons with the North Shore’s musical powerhouse, Over the Waterfall.
The monument offers the opportunity to visit an 18th Century cobbler, tinsmith, and blacksmith. Explore a reconstructed 1790s fur trade depot. Try your hand at fire starting with flint and steel, see voyageurs pressing fur bales, 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 storytelling, a scavenger hunt, a bead hunt, and a cornhusk voyageur/doll workshop especially for youngsters. National Monument rangers and costumed historical re-enactors help bring history alive in this fun-filled weekend event. Donations of $1.00 per person will be accepted at the north gate.
The Ojibwe pow-wow is hosted by the Grand Portage band, with host drum Kingbird Singers from Ponemah and Grand Portage’s own Stonebridge Singers. Join the Grand Portage community as it honors its veterans with flag raising. Meet the young people who will represent Grand Portage as Princess and Brave in the coming year.
Rendezvous Days also offers traditional food, craft stands, softball tournament, a turkey shoot, bingo at the fire hall, races, and much more.
For more information on the Rendezvous at Grand Portage National Monument call (218) 475- 0123 or visit www.nps.gov/grpo.
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