July 4th

Despite the threat of rain all weekend, Larned Independence Day celebrations went on as planned - well, almost.  Fort Larned had another living history weekend complete with the Olde Time Fort Larned Band, watermelon, and potato sack races.

This guy's giving up after demonstrating one, measly time.

The town of Larned doesn't do anything on the 4th until 8:00pm, when the community gathers to hear the Fort Larned Band and buy treats from some of the local organizations trying to raise funds.  Then they have community fireworks. 

I'm not really sure why Larned puts on a fireworks show myself, as shooting off rockets from your yard is perfectly legal in Kansas.  A massive fireworks shop, sponsored by the local Assembly of God chapter (interesting!), shows up for about a week and people stock up as if there's going to be a nuclear holocaust and fireworks are necessary for your very survival.  Saturday night we watched our neighbor shoot off an amazing light show for about an hour.  It's the closest I've ever been to a fireworks show, and probably as close as I'd like to be, as I'm certain there are now some singed shingles on our roof.

So, Larned, finding it necessary to put on its own show, decided at 8:30pm that the threat of rain was too great, so instead of canceling the fireworks, they started them prematurely.  It turns out, fireworks in front of a dark rain cloud are just as good as fireworks at night.  Luckily, we could see the whole show from our driveway, so never had to brave the rains, mosquitoes, or "crowds" to see them.

Our View

My uncle Tim came to visit from Lincoln, NE Monday, so we went back out to the Fort.  Living history still abounding, we got to see this hot soldier in his dress uniform, crawled into an underground tunnel to view a well, and Tim was brave enough to get locked in the Fort's Sweatbox, which was used to punish soldiers who mouthed off to their superiors on hot days.

Nathan guarding the blockhouse

  Underground Well

Uncle Tim probably wondering if this is really a good idea

I definitely miss the pomp and circumstance of having a 4th of July parade, but I suppose I can't expect that much from a town who has lost 1/4 of its population since the 2000 census.  (We're now down to 3500 people.)  At least no one was injured by a rouge neighborhood firework.  I guess that qualifies as an excellent 4th of July!

Living History - Memorial Day Weekend at Fort Larned

There's nothing more fun to do while visiting a historic site than to imagine what it was like back in its heyday.  Over Memorial Day Weekend at Fort Larned National Historic Site, you don't have to imagine very hard, as over 70 reenactment volunteers truck in from Texas, Colorado, and all over Kansas to bring the place to life.

Fort Larned's Giant Flag

Although the Fort's use expands well beyond the civil war era, the 1860's is what we went back to over Memorial Day.  All of the park employees partake by dressing up in period gear (which means wool - yes, even in summer - infantry uniforms for the guys and billowing dresses for the girls) and assuming a character.

Chaz, Nathan, and Mike as Soldiers

All of the buildings are open with someone in period dress to talk to you about what went on there back in the day, but my favorite two special events took place outside.  First, it's important to point out that Nathan has a pretty cool job, because he got to do this:



There were also other rifle demonstrations throughout the day.

Rifle Demonstration

Second, a hobby vintage baseball team rolled into town to play the soldiers (park employees) in 1860's-style baseball, complete with a leather ball, no gloves, and old rules like if you catch a fly ball after the first bounce, the batter is out.  I found it pretty interesting to learn some of the jargon and facts from the day.  For instance, most of the reenacters are, by definition, civil war nerds, which makes for some pretty useless baseball players.  In vintage baseball, a person who tries really hard, but still stinks is called a muffin.  Spectators would sit really close to the game with no fences for protection.  If a ball happened to roll under a woman's skirt, depending on which team she was rooting for, she may or may not choose to lift her skirt and make it easy for the players to find the ball.

 Nathan Catching - One of the only experienced baseball players out there

I had a pretty good time at the event and am looking forward to more living history for July 4th weekend (more reenactments including potato sack races) and Labor Day weekend (if I'm not actually in labor).