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October 10, 2009

Kids wrap their arms around cold history

Annual History Fest continues to teach, thrill

By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — What do organizers of an outdoor festival do when temperatures are about 30 degrees below normal and a blustery wind gusts up to 28 mph from the west?

Press on. History Fest waits for no man and tolerates no wimpiness.

The crowds on Saturday, the finale of the three-day event, were about a third or less of a typical horde drawn to the annual festival on Jack McGowan’s farm southwest of Mankato. And the people who came were shivering as they smiled, huddling as they learned and actively participating despite thick layers of clothing.

“It’s kind of a good cultural experience for the kids, and it’s fun,” said Jeremy Heim of Mankato, who brought three kids ranging in age from 2 to 7. “We started over at the Civil War re-enactment, saw the cowboys and the bull whips. We saw the medieval Scotland area. And now we’re here.”

“Here” was a cabin, nicely warmed by a wood-burning stove, where women demonstrated old-time skills like canning, wool shearing and thread spinning.

It was standard stuff for a history festival. Across the farm on the banks of the Blue Earth River was something less commonly seen.

“Exploding pumpkins,” Amanda Mackie answered when asked what brought her to History Fest.

She and her family, including a pair of preschool kids, had just seen McGowan’s catapult hurl a large pumpkin hundreds of feet to the river. The kids may or may not have realized they were learning about military history, but they definitely loved seeing a pumpkin soar and splat.

“The pumpkin was a hit, that’s for sure,” Mackie said. “I think the cannon scared the bejeebers out of them, but that’s OK.”

The catapult and the cannon were largely spectator events, but most of History Fest gets the crowd — especially the kids — directly involved. They muscle large two-man lumberjack saws through logs, walk on stilts, draw wagons, hang out next to the red-hot fire used by the blacksmiths, crack bull whips.

“We think this is the greatest event,” said Cassandra Swanson, who with her husband and four kids teaches cowboy skills. “... You couldn’t have a better hands-on event for kids, and we do a lot of events.”

Elsewhere, pretty much everything is about standing and watching, Swanson said. The reluctance at other events to let the kids get involved and wrap their arms around history comes down to one word.

“Liability,” Swanson said.

So she and her family will keep coming back to History Fest, all the way from Canton, S.D.

“We think the McGowans are pretty cool people,” she said. “It’s amazing they do this.”

It was a similar sentiment from Valerie Shannon, who was showing off her 1,700-pound. buffalo, Cody, at the McGowan farm.

“After we met Jack, we just fell in love with the whole venue,” Shannon said, adding that she and partner Mike Fogel were impressed by the “smart questions” asked by the hundreds of area school kids who visited on Thursday and Friday.

History Fest, now more than a dozen years old, is McGowan’s baby. But he gets plenty of help, mostly from volunteers.

“He’s just the most endearing, giving man,” said Suszi Grudem, of Mankato, who has served as re-enactor coordinator for three years. “You just want to give back to him.”

And there’s no indication that History Fest is going to do anything but grow, at least on the days when the weather cooperates.

“We can’t even contain it, hardly, anymore,” Grudem said. “But it’s a lot of fun.”

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