Festival of the Voyager - Fur Trading Post

Helmets Required were on the road again, this time to learn about fur trading.  Here they are donning the fancy headwear of the time.  The fancy hats of the time were all made with felted animal fur from North America.  Any of the hats here would cost several years pay for an average person.  They are a good looking bunch!

We have been to a lot of pioneer exhibits but not fur trading so we learned a lot on our tour.  Here we are in an Indian winter house.  Brrr, the wind had to be just howling through the walls of these houses, I am surprised they all didn't catch their death of cold and not make it to the spring.  All we had to contend with that day was mosquitoes so thick we almost had to swim through them. 

Dinner was a tailing gating sandwich party.

Until the howling wind and driving rain arrived and then we moved it inside.  Of course as soon as we were done eating the deluge stopped.

We went back into the festival for the dance where lots of people we wearing costumes, including loin cloths!   The kids did some dancing, some of the dances were so fast thy were just a blur! It was a great evening watching them dance and wondering (and hoping!) if the loin cloth wearers had something on underneath.