Even though the day was cloudy and cool with a few sprinkles of rain, it did not put a damper on our Fort Clark Festival. Tim picked up John around 7:15 a.m. and they headed off to help set up the wood carvers display. They certainly did a good job and many people enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful work done by the carvers. Several of the members took turns sitting around the display tables and actually doing some carving while talking to people and answering their questions.


When John returned home from setting up, we had breakfast and then headed out to spend the day at the festival. Our first stop after checking in with the carvers, was to visit a family who had set up a chuck wagon camp. This wagon was totally original, down to the paint. The only thing restored on it were the brake pads. In their "real" life, these people run a 22,000 acre cattle ranch with over 700 head of cattle. They attend different festivals around the state showing people a piece of "living history"

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From the chuck wagon we headed off to see the camels. That's right--camels. We learned that the US Army did an experiment with camels to see if they would work out better than horses and mules in the arid southwest. This trial only lasted a short time, but it is an interesting part of the west's history.



Today we also saw demonstrations of a cannon and Gatling gun being fired as well as many other "living history" folks. It was very interesting hearing them talk about how things were done in the past and especially how the US Army operated and the Texas Rangers maintained law and order. It was a very tough justice system.




John and I spent the whole day walking around the festival enjoying the live music, visiting with friends, and eating the good food that seems to be part of any festival. When we reached home, we just took some time to rest and relax. This evening the Old Quarry Theater group put on an old fashioned melodrama entitled "The Inventor's Daughter". The audience participated by cheering the hero and booing the villain. It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy the play. We ended the evening watching a little TV before heading off to bed. I took many other photos of today's activities and will post more next week. Good night!
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