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Fort History Plains Tribes Site Map Special Events Collections Lewis & Clark |
Lewis
& Clark at the Confluence Rendezvous Fort
Buford Encampment Indian
Arts Showcase
Living History Weekend
Fort Union hosts or promotes four special events each year; Rendezvous, Indian Arts Showcase, Labor Day Living History Weekend, and Fort Buford Military Encampment.
Beginning in 2002 and running through the end of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial (2006) Fort Union will be hosting a Lewis & Clark special event each April. "This Long Wished For Spot": Lewis & Clark at the Confluence will commemorate the arrival of the Corps of Discovery at the Confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, an important achievement on the voyage west. Fort Union staff and select volunteers will present programs on various aspects of the Corps of Discovery.
Lewis & Clark at the Confluence 2005 will be held April 29 to May 1 in conjuction with the Confluence Interpretive Center and will feature guest speakers and special activities.
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In addition, the National Park Service Corps of Discovery II exhibit will be in Williston April 23 to May 1.
Every June Fort Union hosts the Fort Union Rendezvous, the largest annual special event. While no actual Rendezvous ever took place at Fort Union, the American Fur Company did send traders and trappers to the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous' in the 1830s. The modern Rendezvous is a celebration of the spirit of the fur trade, a celebration of American enterprise, exploration, and determination, and a celebration of peaceful relations between the traders at Fort Union and the tribes of the Upper Missouri region. Rendezvous usually takes place Thursday - Sunday, the third week in June, which is usually Fathers' Day weekend.
Rendezvous 2002 was Fort Union's 20th annual rendezvous. Click HERE for a photo gallery of the 2002 Rendezvous.
Fort Buford Military Encampment
In July Fort Union's sister site, Fort Buford State Historic Site (a North Dakota State Historic Site) hosts the Fort Buford Military Encampment. Fort Union helps promote this event and many park staff members participate in the event as well. The Military Encampment recreates garrison life at a United States Army post in the 1870s. An accurate military encampment, 19th century Army drill and marching, civilian life, and a baseball game played according to 1870s rules highlight this event.
This event takes place each August. This event celebrates the traditional arts and crafts of the Northern Plains tribes. This two day weekend event usually takes place the second weekend in August and features such arts, crafts, and skills as storytelling, stone pipe making, doll making, weapon crafting, bead- and quillwork, flint knapping, and flute music. Artisans from Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Reservations in Montana and from Fort Berthold, Standing Rock, and Turtle Mountain in North Dakota regularly participate.
Fort Union's summer season wraps up each year in September with Labor Day Living History Weekend. During Living History Weekend, always Saturday - Monday of Labor Day Weekend, park staff and members of the Fort Union Muzzle Loaders Association dress, live, work, and eat as employees of the American Fur Company would have in the mid-19th century. Although Rendezvous is the largest event of the year, Living History Weekend is the most accurate reenactment of life at Fort Union. Labor Day Living History Weekend is accompanied by the Last Bell Tours, a first-person living history tour of the fort featuring scenes telling an actual story from Fort Union's history. The Last Bell Tours take place on Saturday night of the weekend.
For more information on Fort Union's special events, contact:
Fort Union Trading Post NHS
Special Events Coordinator
15550 Highway 1804
Williston, ND 58801
(701) 572-9083
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