Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Presents
The 10th Annual Port Oneida Fair

The Port Oneida Fair is a wonderful educational event for the entire family. Visitors experience a taste of history that abounds in the Lakeshore during this annual two-day cultural celebration. See arts, crafts, and rural life skill demonstrations at a variety of farmsteads throughout the Port Oneida Rural Historic District.

This year's fair is on Friday, August 12 & Saturday, August 13, 2011, with activities available from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. A park pass is normally required for entrance to designated parking areas. But Saturday, August 13th, will be a "fee free" day.

ManitouIslandsArchives.Org will be at the Fair with simple pastimes the farm kids of Port Oneida and the Manitou Islands enjoyed back in the day ... toys and games they made for themselves out of whatever was available. They include:

• Quoits — deceptive, but not so easy, rope ring toss.
• Ladder Toss — played on split-rail fences or barn loft ladders.
• Cornhole — the farm kids game that became a tailgate pastime.
• Buckets — it's simple (but a real challenge): toss the balls in the bucket.
• King Tut's Toy — what makes it do it's thing?
• Jump Rope — the simple homemade kind
• Bottle-Up — The old carnival game; bet you can't do it!
• the Hummer — also known at the "Bullroarer". Wha'dup widat?
• the Whimmy Diddle — farm boys sometimes called it a "Gee Haw."
• ... and maybe more!

But wait ... There is more!

• There'll be music in the barn. Bring your instrument and join in the fun as part of the all-volunteer barnyard "orchestra." Can't play anything? Dance if you feel like it.
  
  
• You know you always wanted to play something! Impresario Dorothy Cooley will teach you how to play the "mouth organ" ... FREE harmonicas provided.
  
  
• Book Signing — get a FREE copy of the book The Manitou Passage Story signed by the author. Learn all about the history of the Manitou Passage, its important role in America's "Westward Ho" movement, and chat about the old days on the Manitou Islands. A free laminated island-theme bookmark with every copy!.
  
  
• Get a replica of Grandpa Warner's boat whistle; hand-made by his grandson and complete with lanyard and the story of August Warner and his whistle. FREE while they last.
  
  
• Learn to tie knots just like the old Port Oneida farmers, and Manitou Passage sailors and Surfmen ... FREE booklet and rope provided so you can practice at home. (There'll be a test next year!)
  

So come out behind the barn (the Burfiend barn) and discover how much fun you can have with these simple things.