Visitors to Macktown Experience Frenchman’s Frolic

By Jean Seegers, REPORTER

 Visitors to Macktown Living History Center on the weekend of Oct. 15 and 16, experienced a step back in time. Over 100 reenactors rendezvoused at Macktown for the Frenchman’s Frolic.  The annual gathering is a recreation of the era of French fur traders and Native Americans bartering and trading near the Macktown Settlement in the 1700s and 1800s. Visitors observed everyday life as it unfolded in a small Midwest settlement. Men, women and children in period clothing demonstrated blacksmithing and engraving, black powder shooting and bow and arrow competitions on the grounds at Macktown. “Mad Ann Bailey” a frontier woman played by first-person reenactor Susan Thompson captivated a large audience on the trading post lawn.

JEAN SEEGERS, PHOTO – The Herald.
“Mad Ann Bailey” played by first person reenactor, Susan Thompson, entertained visitors in front of the Whitman Trading Post at Macktown Living History Center, 2221 Freeport Road, in the Macktown Forest Preserve during Frenchman’s Frolic, Oct. 15-16.

Sunday, Oct. 16 featured a duel and a skillet-throwing contest.

Frenchman’s Frolic was a free event, open to the public.

Macktown is located in the Macktown Forest Preserve, 2221 Freeport Road, Rockton. For more information about special events and programs, call (815) 624-4200, or visit www.macktownlivinghistory.com.