Events in Hannibal & Hannibal Festivals Calendar

Relive the early 1800s and experience Native American culture by visiting the third annual Bear Creek Rendezvous, to be held 9 a.m. to dusk Saturday, Aug. 11, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12, at the Mark Twain Cave Complex, 300 Cave Hollow Road, in Hannibal.

The event, sponsored by Standing Bear Council, aims to educate attendees about tribal history and culture.

Coleberd is not Native American, she said, but having grown up in Wyoming, she does have an interest in the culture. To bring awareness of the Native American way of life, she enlisted the help of the Keokuk, Iowa, nonprofit Standing Bear Council, the mission of which is to educate about Native Americans.

The event will include demonstrations of primitive knife and tomahawk throwing, woodworking, flint napping, gun-ball making, tanning, pottery making and Native American cooking. Children’s games will be played, and Native American genealogy will be shared.

There also will be an open-air market and tribal music and dancing.

Teepees will be set up, too.

“There’s always at least one teepee. This is a family-oriented event, and my first goal for it was to have a teepee and have children ask questions about it,” Coleberd said.

Each year, the Bear Creek Rendezvous grows, as do Coleberd’s ideas for what else can be done the following year.

“This is still a small event, and although I think it will grow bigger each year, being small is OK because that’s the way it was back then,” Coleberd explained.

“Rendezvous” was 1800s trapper jargon for the sale and trade of furs, hides and other goods. Representatives of fur companies announced each spring or summer where they would drive their mule trains, and trappers then would set out with their skins and hides to meet the fur companies at those locations.

A rendezvous was known as a lively place where trappers, Native Americans and others would gather to dance, play music, feast, compete in contests of skill and, of course, trade and sell goods.

573-221-1656

(H-W Photo/Phil Carlson)

Don your goggles and celebrate the Victorian inventions, industry & architecture of Hannibal’s Gilded Age! Cosplay, costume contests, historic homes tour, live music, vaudeville show, tea with Queen Victoria and more! 573-248-1819

There are waaaaaay too many fun events to list here, but all the FREE events and PREMIUM Steampunk Festival events can be found on the Big River Steampunk Festival website – www.bigriversteampunkfestival.com

Enjoy the fun and fantasy of this unique festival!

(H-W Photo/Phil Carlson)

Don your goggles and celebrate the Victorian inventions, industry & architecture of Hannibal’s Gilded Age! Cosplay, costume contests, historic homes tour, live music, vaudeville show, tea with Queen Victoria and more! 573-248-1819

There are waaaaaay too many fun events to list here, but all the FREE events and PREMIUM Steampunk Festival events can be found on the Big River Steampunk Festival website – www.bigriversteampunkfestival.com

Enjoy the fun and fantasy of this unique festival!