June 9, 2009

Walker Tavern Historic Site invites visitors to experience the sights and sounds of Michigan's captivating past during its "Walk Through Time" event on Saturday, June 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Historical re-enactments, musical performances and vendors will bring to life everyday and historical events of various eras in Michigan history. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 12 and free for children 5 and under.

"This fun family event offers something for everyone - from military drills to baseball to ragtime music - as well as the chance to discover our state's rich heritage," said Walker Tavern Site Historian Cheryl Valentine. "It's history in action."

Highlights of "Walk Through Time" include:

• Re-enactors portraying the 47th Regiment of Foot, British soldiers stationed at Detroit and Ft. Mackinac during the Revolutionary War, will demonstrate the firing of smooth-bore Brown Bess flintlock muskets and a three-pounder field gun.



• The Fur Trade/Voyageur Camp will feature fiber artists and craftsmen, period children's games and flute music by Karen Burr, a Native American of the Mohawk Tribe.



• The sounds of the River Raisin Ragtime Revue, a professional orchestra based in Tecumseh, will transport visitors back a hundred years to the turn of the 20th century, when ragtime music filled the streets of America and paved the way for the jazz age of the 1920s.



• Wolverine Traden Post will sell frontiersman supplies such as tinware, beads, moccasins, leather shooting bags, fur hats, finger weaving, scrimshaw and hand-sewn period clothing.



• Biscuit Babes' 1950s-style diner will offer home-style treats like Coney dogs, bubba burgers, apple slaw and root beer floats.

A full schedule follows:

10:30 a.m. - Weapons through Time demonstration
11 a.m. - Frontier skills and games, Native American flute music
11:30 a.m. - Revolutionary War military drills
Noon - Flint and steel demonstration
12:30 p.m. - World War II skirmish with U.S., German and Soviet troops
1-3 p.m. - River Raisin Ragtime Revue performance
2 p.m. - Silent film, "The Little Tramp" with Charlie Chaplin
3 p.m. - Weapons through Time demonstration
3:30 p.m. - Cakewalk
4 p.m. - World War II skirmish with U.S., German and Soviet troops
4:30 p.m. - Vintage baseball, played by 1860s rules

Sponsors of the event include the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Arts & Industry Council, Onsted American Legion Post 550, the Friends of Walker Tavern, the Michigan Historical Center and the Department of History, Arts and Libraries.

Walker Tavern is located in Brooklyn, next to the Michigan International Speedway in the Irish Hills region. Situated at the historic crossroads of M-50 and the U.S. 12 Heritage Trail, Walker Tavern is just 35 miles west of Ann Arbor.

The Department of Natural Resources and the Department of History, Arts and Libraries jointly administer Walker Tavern. Walker Tavern Historic Site is part of the Michigan Historical Museum System and is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums. For more information visit www.michigan.gov/walkertavern or call (517) 467-4401, TDD (517) 373-1592.