Reenactors, artisans, parade bring diverse appeal to Fort Ligonier Days

The 18th and 21st centuries will intersect in Ligonier this weekend as the town hosts the annual Fort Ligonier Days.

The festival’s historical appeal includes reenactors portraying French and Indian War combatants and one of the country’s founding fathers — no, not George Washington.

Live entertainment, a parade and vendors offering crafts, food and adult beverages are among other attractions spread across the event’s three days.

The reconstructed Fort Ligonier and associated museum at Routes 30 and 711 had its start in 1758 as a British outpost, giving the town its name and later inspiring the fall celebration.

“The whole reason it’s held the second full weekend in October is to commemorate the attack on Fort Ligonier by French forces,” said Julie Donovan, director of marketing and public relations at the fort. “The British successfully defended the fort.”

Included in admission to the fort and recalling the pivotal engagement of Oct. 12, 1758, living history participants with period uniforms and equipment will conduct artillery and historical demonstrations. Programs are set for 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday.

“We’ll have approximately 150 reenactors encamped throughout the fort,” Donovan said.

The fort and museum will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for tours during and beyond the festival that kicks off Friday. Admission for kids 17 or younger will be free this Saturday and Sunday.

Grand parade

Saturday’s grand parade along Main Street begins at 11 a.m. and will feature some 20 marching bands — including units from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Franklin Regional High School, as well as the Pittsburgh Steeline drumline and pipers with the Pittsburgh Firefighters Memorial Band.

“That’s 1,200-some people,” Tom Stablein, parade chairman and festival co-chair, said of the combined units. “It’s going to be a very nice parade, about an hour and a half long.”

A returning favorite will be the six-horse team and wagon from Spring Mount Percherons of Huntingdon County.

“They look absolutely beautiful going down the street,” Stablein said of the black draft horses.

New to the event will be Philadelphia-based Ben Franklin interpreter Bill Ochester. Following the parade, he’ll be on hand to greet visitors at the fort.

A Revolutionary War reenactor who has served as an historical tour guide, Ochester said taking on the guise of Franklin for patriotic events and informative programs has been a pleasure.

“He was a phenomenal American,” Ochester said, citing Franklin’s many accomplishments as a politician, diplomat, scientist and inventor before his death in 1790.

Now in his 70s, Ochester said, “Franklin lived to be 84. I’m hoping I will remain healthy enough to continue portraying him until then. I look somewhat like the old gentleman when I take my hair down.”

If you get to meet him up close, you’ll find Ochester wears eyeglasses with round lenses, not the octagonal kind that are sometimes mistakenly depicted resting on Franklin’s nose.

“The spectacles I wear were made in the 1750s in London,” Ochester said. “I’m very proud of them. I’m very interested in authenticity.”

Beginning at 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday and at 10 a.m. Sunday, the festival offers food, wine and spirits — as well as vendors galore, selling crafts ranging in style from colonial to contemporary. Local merchants’ sidewalk sales begin at 10 a.m. each day.

A lineup of musical acts starts at 10 a.m. Friday and Sunday and 9 a.m. Saturday at the Mack Darr Stage on West Main Street. Music begins at 1:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the bandstand in Ligonier’s central Diamond Park.

New food court

Vendors are clustered in several lots downtown — including a new food court outside the Ligonier Valley School District administrative offices on West Main, supplementing food booths on the Diamond.

For the second year, a Sutlers Row of artisans offering traditional wares and demonstrating their skills will be in place on the front lawn at Fort Ligonier. There is no admission charge to visit the booths of a woodworker, a tinsmith, a potter, a weaver and a baker who serves bread hot from a beehive-style clay oven.

During the fort’s early days, Donovan said, “These were the type of wares and personal items that the soldiers would have traveled with.”

Visit fortligonierdays.com for festival schedules, maps and information on parking and a 5K run at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.