Many attend feast despite rain

Sarah Szczepanski
Assistant Features Editor

Three and a half year old Ellie Draves sat completely still on a bale of hay inside a tent Sunday at historic Fort Ouiatenon.

Among the 14 to 18 people filing in past the wooden sign reading, "Storyteller," and into the burlap walls held together by branches and twine, Draves listened intently to a bright-eyed woman telling an Indian tale on the origin of rainbows.

Draves looked down, noticing that her pink sucker was almost finished, when her attention was once again grabbed by the storyteller, who was then explaining how Indian children used the buffalo's rib cage as a sled.

Draves's grandmother, Becky, looked back and forth from Draves to the storyteller, smiling.

Becky didn't seem to notice that Draves's Minnie Mouse shoes were coated in mud or that the bottoms of her own pants had splashes of wet dirt on them.

She was enjoying herself too much.

Becky and Draves were among thousands who braved rainy skies and mud during the weekend to attend the 34th Annual Feast of the Hunters' Moon, sponsored by the Tippecanoe Historical Association. Visitors had the chance to watch a blacksmith demonstration, throw a tomahawk or buy a pinch pot for 25 cents, among dozens of other things.

Becky, a West Lafayette resident for 26 years, said she didn’t mind the weather, saying that the lack of overwhelming crowds reminded her of the feast as it was 20 years ago.

Since Thursday, approximately two inches of rain has fallen, and some merchants, performers and visitors canceled plans of attending the feast. But considering the weather conditions, there was a good turn out, said Laura Loy, director of public relations and marketing for the Tippecanoe Historical Association.

"It's gone really well," said Loy, clothed in an old-fashioned dress. "People have been really adaptable. Only a handful decided to leave."

She paused as the others sitting at her information table remarked at the sun peaking out, in a rare moment, from the dreary sky. "We're still here," she said.

Bill Smith from Kentucky was one of the merchants that decided to stay. The muddy ground inside his tent didn’t deter him from selling his powder horns and the haversacks — each handcrafted in a 15-hour process.

Smith, with clear blue eyes and a white mustache, said he wasn’t expecting this kind of weather, even though this was his first year at the feast. "It's great except for the weather," he said. " But you can't control it."

He said he still plans to attend in future years. "I'm going to come back — I believe 'em that it's not always like this."

Outside of Smith's tent, visitors crossed through the watery grass, studying the torn-apart ground and gingerly stepping on the soggy, blackened straw laid out in an attempt to soak up the excess moisture.

"I think we'd better go this way; it's much dryer," said one man talking with two other men next to a pool of standing water. The man pointed towards the West Arena where a group of people stood, and the three continued walking.

In past years, bales of straw made a small seating area around the West Arena. This year, because the straw was spread all over the mud, a crowd of people simply stood in a large circle around the arena to watch one of the weekend's many performances.

If they were bothered by the change, they didn’t seem to show it.

The crowd laughed as a member of the Heritage Musick & Daunce, a man with flying gray hair, a red vest and a black tailed jacket, talked to the audience about the different French dances and courtship rules.

The man went on to explain an old-fashioned dance from 1701 where "the woman is lifted into the air and her ankles are exposed." His eyes twinkling, he repeated this to the crowd, and was rewarded with a booming, "Nooooooo," shouted in mock disbelief from the audience, full of people dressed in everything from green and blue kilts to 18th century petticoats.

For Kevin Kloster, a freshman in the Schools of Engineering, it was his first time at the feast. He said he liked how the entire feast's entertainment covered a combination of French, English and Native American aspects.

Kloster was surprised to see the amount of people dressed in old-fashioned clothes, who were not necessarily working in booths, but just walking around. "It seems pretty neat," said Kloster, who is considering arriving costumed himself next year. "It's pretty multi-cultural."

Kloster continued to experience the feast, the rain lasted through the weekend and the vendors endured selling parched corn and rock candy. A stream of spectators arrived at the historic park; stepping out of clean, washed cars and then left hours later, walking back to those same cars, with smiles, shopping bags and muddy pants.

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