Pioneer Fair

A couple weekends ago, we went to the 25th Annual Pioneer Fair in Tumwater (only a few minutes away from us). The fair is put on by the Tumwater Historical Society and the Tumwater Middle School eighth graders as part of their Washington State history course. The event is very hands-on and the kids had so much fun making candles, using old-fashioned tools (Ben's favorite!), riding in a wagon pulled by horses, sitting on a log bench in a "school" and writing on slates, learning how to weave baskets and make butter, etc! The students - all of whom were in period dress and were acting as actual historical characters - did a fabulous job assisting the children (with some occasional help from adults :) and explaining what they had learned throughout the year. It was neat to see young people so excited about what they had learned. We stayed for several hours and the kids did not want to leave and had to promised that we would return next year. I was wondering how it was that this was the first time I'd heard of this event when I would have LOVED to have gone to it when I was a kid myself! :o)

We dressed the children in "pioneer" clothing as was encouraged in the flyer we saw about the event. Even though we had no costumes or authentic clothing, I thought they made pretty cute little pioneers anyway! :)