Live History Days interests kids, adults
Berl Tiskus
H. J. Pieper drives an Army jeep loaded with guests around the grounds at the Miracle of America Museum.
Berl Tiskus
Fred Smith plays the fiddle as Ellen Achenbaugh strums her guitar at Live History Days.
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Larry Eslick turns a log at the museum’s sawmill.
Berl Tiskus
Larry Eslick turns a log at the museum’s sawmill.
Berl Tiskus
Larry Eslick turns a log at the museum’s sawmill.
Berl Tiskus
Larry Eslick turns a log at the museum’s sawmill.
Berl Tiskus
Rylee Buckless, 5, grins as she careens around a corner in a sidecar.
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
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POLSON — It was a toss up with the kids who attended Live History Days whether riding the jeep with the attached machine gun, the tennis ball cannon or the motorcycle and sidecar was the most fun.
Oh, and don’t forget the trains to ride and the helicopter and airplane to climb onto.
One young lady liked the music being played and sung by the guitar players, accordionists and a fiddle player.
Visitors who aren’t in school enjoyed Live History Days, too. Patti Slack and her friend peeked in the window of a sod-roofed cabin. Slack marveled at the number of items she owned — a cabbage cutter, an iron baby bed and high chair.
“I kept my mom and grandmother’s high chair,” Slack said.
Then she headed to the one-room school, because her mother taught in one.
While she wasn’t in the schoolhouse, Sylvia Callantine sat spinning, something the woman of the house in a “soddie” might have done. She spun linen thread from the hank of flax on the distaff of her spinning wheel. Callantine herself was dressed all in linen, period skirt and apron.
Children stopped to ask questions sometimes, she said.
Nearby saddle maker Ed Phillips and his wife Trina were working. Ed was stamping a belt and Trina lacing baby moccasins. Tucked behind the jail, Andrew Speer carved birds, and inside Rachel Shaffer was hand-quilting a toddler quilt.
All patiently answered questions and talked about their skill.
Matthew Smith tooled around the grounds on a 1912 Harley Davidson, and H. J. Pieper drove the “Rat Patrol” army jeep with mounted machine gun, giving visitors a ride.
Everywhere there were things to see — a woodshop, a pump gushing water into a bucket, buildings from bank to jail to barber shop. The old sawmill was fired up, and Larry Eslick made the sawdust fly as he milled boards.
Live History Days is an annual event held at the Miracle of America Museum, and Gil Mangels, founder and president of the museum’s executive board, and his crew spend a lot of time tuning up vehicles and planning the event.
“Everything went well, but most importantly, attendees had fun,” Mangels said. “There was so much variety for them.”
Mangels got to ride his 1941 Indian motorcycle with sidecar and his 1912 Harley Davidson belt drive “for the first time ever,” since he’s spent years restoring them.
Attendance Sunday was better than last year, according to Mangels, and there were even repeat visitors from Saturday.
