Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore invites visitors to “step back in time” this weekend from Friday, August 11 through Saturday, August 12 at the Port Oneida Fair. The all-ages event is held in partnership with Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear (PHSB) across Maple City’s rural historic district. Guests will shuttle between six locations–the Thoreson, Kelderhouse, Dechow, and Olsen farms, plus Burfiend Barn and Port Oneida Schoolhouse–to get a glimpse of how Leelanau settlers of the late 1800s and early 1900s navigated the rigors of everyday life.

Executive Director of PHSB Susan Pocklington says dozens of volunteers have been preparing for months for the on-site demonstrations in butter churning, basket weaving, and reenactments of a time gone by. They’ll also be busy “helping with parking, ice cream scooping, and greeting visitors” for the two-day event. Artists will take up temporary residence among the natural beauty of Sleeping Bear to paint the landscape while guests look on between perusing antique displays and swaying along to a rotation of musicians who’ll be strumming out traditional fiddle, mandolin, and dulcimer music. Kids will enjoy hands-on learning including barn tours, animal visits, and the chance to try out crosscut sawing “and other farm implements.”

Festivities run from 10 am - 4 pm and the event is free with a valid park pass which can be purchased at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center in Empire. For more information visit phsb.org.