Drayton Riverfest
July 17, 2004

Parade Float

Society members came up with another award-winning float design for the Drayton Riverfest parade. We loaded our own ox cart (purchased thanks to a grant last year) onto the float trailer and went to work decorating it Saturday morning just prior to the parade. Adding some animal furs, boxes and cartons, rope, firewood, a cooking stand and fake grass, the trailer was soon transformed to depict an overnight stop along the ox cart trails circa 1900. Entertaining around the campfire with banjo music was Rob Boll as a fur trapper and “family members” (L-R) Olivia Baylor, and Aisha, Marina, and Anna Tahtamouni. Taped banjo music was played from the float, making it a real hit.

Parade judges voted the float 1st place, earning us the Riverfest Judges’ Choice trophy for the year. It’s the second time in 5 years our float has won Judges’ Choice!

Museum

After a spring and early summer of weekly work nights, our museum exhibits were in complete disarray. Members had spent many hours recording and labeling all the artifacts in our possession—a monumental job because none of it had been done since the Society was founded. Each item from every exhibit had to be written up and tagged. The result was a well-documented collection, but a messy museum.

In the days prior to Riverfest, though, members breezed through the museum, setting up several new exhibits, incorporating many new artifacts, and finally cleaning and dusting in preparation for our Riverfest guests. We were fortunate to have Chamber’s Native American teepee on our front lawn, and the ox cart was brought over for display after the parade. Volunteers spent the afternoon hosting a large number of museum visitors and were able to bring in several people as new Society members.