Eighth Annual LSUS Pioneer Day lineup finalized
10/21/04

The list of demonstrations for the 8th Annual Pioneer Day on Saturday, Oct. 30, has been finalized by the LSUS Pioneer Heritage Center. The event will be held on the LSUS campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children 6-12. There is no charge for children 5 and under.

All seven historic buildings in the Center’s “period community” will be open for viewing and most of them will feature demonstrations by knowledgeable artisans and guides in period dress. Michael Baker, an LSUS graduate and medical student at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport who is also a master farrier (a blacksmith who specializes in making horseshoes), will again demonstrate his always popular and pyrotechnic blacksmithing arts. And, West’s Battery will again fire its 1860’s artillery cannon every hour on the hour.

The complete list of demonstrations includes:

-- Blacksmithing (Michael Baker)
-- 1860’s Artillery (West’s Battery) Cannon will fire every hour
-- Quilting (Red River Quilters)
-- Spinning (Katherine Aulds)
-- Arrowhead Making/Flint Knapping (Chippalottas Club)
-- Wood Carving (North Louisiana Woodcarvers)
-- Soap making/herbalist (Gail Fleetwood)
-- Hook Rugs (Julia Washburn)
-- Master Model Ship Builder (Bill Atteridge/Civil and Korean War Museum)
-- Scottish Society of the Louisiana Highlands (bagpipes, Scottish Cattle)
-- Story Telling (Martha Anderson)
-- Historic Clothing (Jan Pettiet)
-- Frontier Campsite (Glenn Pettiet)
-- Music

LSUS Pioneer Day was started in 1996 as an independent study project and was to be a one-time event. Its aim was to promote the Pioneer Heritage Center on the LSUS campus and its availability for tours. From that small first event, it has grown into an awareness event for the Center and a showcase for local folk-life groups, individuals and living historians.

“We are always looking for new demonstrations to add to the event,” said Marty Young, assistant director of the Pioneer Heritage Center. “They do not have to relate to the pioneer period.”

For information, contact Young at 318-797-5339 or myoung@lsus.edu.