*I was given a family admission pass to help facilitate my review. All thoughts are 100% honest and mine.
One of my favorite parts of school when I was a kid were the field trips. I would have been fine and dandy if someone had taken away all of the other parts of my school career and had left me with art, lunch, recess, and field trips.
It is the right of passage for all sixth graders in the Albert Lea School District to go to the Big Island Rendezvous the first Thursday and Friday in October. I was fortune enough to grow up in Albert Lea and even luckier to be able to get out of school for a whole entire day and experience the Rendezvous.
We pulled up in the typical bright yellow school bus. The smell of the diesel bus fumes, the loud squeak of brakes, and soon the accordion doors opened and my classmates and I stepped out onto the gravel road. Wood smoke, folks dressed in mountain man clothes, and pioneer attire assured me we had stepped back in time.
As a fifth grader I had some what of an idea of what I was going to experience. My family had camped and attended the Rendezvous when it was held at what was then, Helmer-Myre State Park. However a few years after the first couple of rendezvous’s it was moved to what is called Bancroft Bay Park (A large area of land with walking trails, fire pits, and now even has a disc golf course.) It had been a few years since my family had attended the event and I was excited to experience the smells, sights, and sounds again.
My classmates and I were divided into a few groups and each group was assigned a tour guide. A person who would get us from one exhibitor to the next with the goal of us all staying together. We watched a black smith make horseshoes, another explained the inner workings of a canon and then fired it off (my heart just about jumped out of my body), we shook hands with Abe Lincoln and his wife, and made our very own bees wax candle.
I bought chicken and wild rice soup in a bread bowl and it tasted amazing. It was a cold, windy day and it was perfect to ward off the cold. I bought rock candy, licorice, and admired all of the beaded work in the traders tent.
Before we got on the bus we were given an admission ticket to be able to bring our families back over the weekend. I do believe my family used the ticket I was given and I was able to enjoy the rendezvous all over again with my family.
Note: Education days continue to be a huge part of the Big Island Rendezvous. It is the desire of the founding father that every child be given the chance to attend. Over 75,000 students have attended and by the end of education days this year over 100,000 students will have attended! If you have questions about bringing your school this year and I highly suggest you do.
Here are the details. Thursday September 29th & Friday September 30th, 2016 are the dates this year, click here for more information. Other questions regarding the Rendezvous click here.
We hope to see you there!
*I was given a admission pass to help facilitate my review. All thoughts are 100% honest and mine.