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Health & Fitness

O'Fallon Founders' Day shows that "the good ole days" were fun

O'Fallon Founders' Day will be held on Saturday, May 4, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in Fort Zumwalt Park with free admission, parking, live entertainment and free kids' activities.

At O’Fallon Founders’ Day, visitors can sing along to cowboy songs, dance to early American tunes, learn how to make an arrow point and fashion a doll from corn husks.

 

Founders’ Day will be held on Saturday, May 4, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in Fort Zumwalt Park, 1000 Jessup Drive, O’Fallon, Missouri 63366. The event includes free admission, parking, live entertainment and kids’ activities.

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Founders’ Day attractions include demonstrations of early American skills such as basket-weaving, rope-making, broom-making, beekeeping and blacksmithing. Kids can try their hand at soap carving, corn husk doll-making, learning to milk a cow and playing checkers. The St. Charles Model Railroad Club exhibit will be open, free (donations are welcome), and the historic Heald Home will be open for tours at $2 per person. Pony rides, concessions, and hand-made merchandise will be available for purchase.

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The day’s family-friendly entertainment features cowboy lore, American Indian tools and weaponry, and dancing in the frontier era.

 

  • At 10:15 and 11:45 a.m. Larry Kinsella will demonstrate primitive tool use such as making cordage or twine, flint knapping (making flint knives and arrow points), and using an atlatl, an ancient spear-thrower. Kinsella also will identify artifacts found in the region, and explain the role of experimental archaeology, or hands-on research to find out how artifacts were likely used by the people who made them hundreds to thousands of years ago. A master at replicating tools crafted by American Indians, Kinsella’s handiwork has been featured on the Discovery Channel, BBC and the History Channel.

 

  • Cowboy Randy Erwin’s humorous, interactive show at 11 a.m. and noon features cowboy music, yodeling, rope tricks and western folklore. The audience will be encouraged to sing along as Cowboy Randy plays his “cigalele” (a ukulele made from a cigar box). He’ll also show the audience how to twirl a lasso.

 

  • At 1:15 p.m. Pat McMenomy will teach social dancing of the 1700s-1860s as she accompanies herself on the hammer dulcimer.

 

For more information, visit www.ofallon.mo.us/more-festivals-and-events or contact Festival Coordinator Jennifer Hoisington at jhoisington@ofallon.mo.us or 636-379-5605.

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