WAVERLY — The sounds of blacksmiths pounding metal, a train whistling, horses neighing and muskets firing permeated the outdoor air last weekend as guests from throughout the region attended the historical Old Town Waverly Park Festival.
“The festival shows the culture that started here in Indiana,” said volunteer Tracey Coy. “We’re keeping it true as much as we can to back in the day.”
The festival featured historic reenactments and demonstrations, live music, vendors, animals and a Sunday car show amid picture-perfect weather.
Coy emphasized the importance of children benefiting from the festival by learning about the history of Indiana and how things were made.
Mooresville residents DeLani Gardner and Sarah Mendenhall both attended the festival. Gardner grew up going to the festival with her family. Now as a welder in the Local 440 union, she has a greater appreciation for the work the original pioneers did by hand in Waverly.
“It’s good to know the history of where you’re from,” said Gardner said, who always enjoyed learning about the history of her own town growing up. “You hear about the history of all these other big towns, but learning about the history of your own little town, it’s pretty interesting.”
Ellen Wilson-Pruitt is a fine china painter. She believes there is a sense of immediacy in today’s society. Gesturing around, she said all the hobbies and crafts there take a long amount of time.
“I think it’s important that we keep these arts and trades alive in the minds of particularly young people because they’re not going to be exposed to it any other way,” Wilson-Pruitt said.
The most impactful part for Gardner was seeing the homemade goods from the vendors.
“We’re used to just getting the factory made, or you buy it on Amazon, you buy it at Walmart,” she said. “But like, when you get to come here, you see the people that put their hard work and time into that.”
Randy Cain, a Wild West entertainer with reenactment group the Lost River Renegades, had his prop pistol blazing throughout the weekend as the Renegades robbed the local bank every couple of hours to the delight of the crowd.
“If I can make people laugh or if I can make people think about things maybe a little differently than they normally would have, I feel like I’ve accomplished my goal,” he said
To Cain, the festival brings back an appreciation of people’s roots.
“Once you have a connection to history, it really comes alive,” Wilson-Pruitt echoed. “You’re not just standing over here and just observing, you are an evolutionary part of history.”
John Moore, a tinsmith with a history degree, uses his hobby to go to a different time for a while.
“This is a way of jumping into a book,” Moore said.
He later described the festival as a way for the community to participate in living history.
Tinsmith Daryll French said, “I get a kick out of seeing something new, and at the same time, old people see something that they reminisce with.”
French described the first time he saw a tinsmith working when he was 15. He knew one day he wanted to do that, too.
Moore is now learning from French, just like French learned from his own predecessor. Generations of tinsmiths passed along the skills, knowledge and tools to the next generation.
French picked up a hand-dipped tin and showed the difference between the modern factory-produced tin and those of the past. The modern tin was less sturdy than the hand-dipped and the hand-dipped had a golden hue.
“They do it all out of love,” Moore said.
Rachel Burgess, a Mooresville resident and mother, enjoyed being able to bring her children to a place where they could go outside and spend time together.
“I appreciate the concept of a fair that doesn’t have a lot of technology, and they kind of get a chance to experience a time in the past,” Burgess said.
Ken and Sherry Barnett, married for 62 years with 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, are wary of digital technology. They enjoyed seeing people look around at the scenery at the festival rather than at a screen.
Sitting on the porch of the historic log cabin, Sherry believed that the festival encouraged people to think more.
“How could they not?” she said. “When they walk around, see what they did years ago, you know, without all this technology.”
Isabella Wilson is a student reporter with the Indiana Newsroom, a learning lab designed to give Indiana University students practical experience in community journalism and provide news coverage to surrounding areas. It is funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County and housed at The Media School in Bloomington.
