Colonial Festival Hits 30-Year Mark

Annual Feast of the St. Claire Takes Over Pine Grove Park This Weekend
Donald Lierman
Contributing Writer

From authentic costumes and colonial dances to bean soups and rock candies, the 30th-annual Feast of the Ste. Claire is sure to offer a little something to suit everyone’s tastes.

More than 650 French, British, and American Indian re-enactors will portray life in the Blue Water area as it was in colonial times. Cannons will be fired. Battles will be re-enacted. And demonstrations of Celtic dance, craft, cooking and much more will re-create how life was in the region between 1750 and 1840. Each day of the two-day festival will also offer 18 historically-accurate presentations.

“This is really a wonderful event,” said Volunteer, Programs and Grant Manager for the Port Huron Museum, Holly Modock. “The feast allows both young and old a chance to experience the sights and sounds of early Michigan history.”

The two-day celebration kicks-off this weekend, May 29-30 (Memorial Day weekend), at Pine Grove Park just north of downtown Port Huron. Gates open at 10 a.m. both days and close at 10 p.m. on Saturday and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to the feast is $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and students. Military personal (with proper ID) and children under 5 get in to event free.

Harry and Rose Burgess, who chair the annual event, have been involved with the festival since its inception in 1980.

“The festival was to first celebrate the 300th anniversary of Fort St. Joseph,” Rose Burgess said. “The idea grew to celebrate the Feast of the Ste. Claire. The lake and river were named after that feast day on which a Father Henniten ‘discovered’ those bodies of water.”

A wide variety of daily events and presentations are scheduled during the festival’s 30th anniversary celebration.

“There will be three special speakers,” Rose Burgess said. “Philip Sincully will discuss the ship, The Welcome, which was a local trading vessel. Ron Pinson will talk about local Native Americans of that period. And Gary Werner will demonstrate a colonial surgery, as well as speak on early medicines.

“Finally, a ladies high tea will be presented, which will include a commemorative cup and saucer. In addition, there will be a couple night-time firings of cannon, which will leave spectators breathless. They’ll learn why you don’t stand in front of one, even if it’s only a re-enactment.”

Also highlighting the festival will be candlelight tours, a Catholic mass and a colonial ball Saturday evening, with colonial contra dance lessons before the ball at 4:45 p.m.

Modock said volunteers are still needed for the event. Those interested should contact her at 810-982-0891, ext. 118.

Free parking will be available in the St. Clair County Community College parking lot, located by the M-TEC building, with free trolley rides to the park.

Museum members pay only $2 for admission and family passes to the festival are available for $20. Admission is good for both days of the feast.

“The event is like your own personal time machine to our ancestors’ days,” Harry Burgess said. “Even if it is not of the hot tub variety.”