Weekend's History Events Launch Tourism Season
Parade, Pageant Draw Travelers to Mackinaw City
By Paul Gingras

During the 2008 Fort Michilimackinac Pageant, reenactors play the fateful game of baggataway that led to the fall of Fort Michilimackinac June 2, 1763. Pictured Saturday, May 24, (from front) are Jessie Yuker of Mackinaw City, Matt Foutch of Bridgeport, and Collin Jaggi of Mackinaw City.

Dramatic reenactments of history launched the tourist season in Mackinaw City Saturday, May 24, where crowds converged for the 2008 Fort Michilimackinac Pageant, sidewalks filled for the Mackinaw Memorial Parade, and hundreds of runners crossed the Mackinac Bridge for the Memorial Day Bridge Run.

Taking a long overdue vacation, Tom Blue of southern Michigan came to Mackinaw City for the Memorial Day weekend events, which he discovered quite by accident several years ago. Gas prices were a factor to consider, he said, but so many events taking place in one area made Mackinaw City an attractive travel prospect.

"Once you park your car, everything's accessible," he said.

Although many noted crowds were smaller than years past, turnout was good, considering the inevitable impact of high gas prices and unusually cool weather that gave way to warm sunshine and clear skies only a day before the show, said Florence Tracy of Mackinaw City, a member of the pageant's cast since 1963.

The crowd looks on at Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City as historical reenactors depict one of the ways the French attempted to convert Native Americans to Christianity in the late 1700s. Here natives and French settlers, under the guidance of a priest, sing a French song near one of the fort's towers Saturday, May 24. Behind them, the Mackinac Bridge is visible.

"It grows some years. It's leaner some years. It has [always] been that way," but nothing seems to hinder Mackinaw City's pageant to relive history, she said.

Standing on South Huron Avenue in reproduced 1700s Native American dress, she said even when rain and snow falls on the pageant, "we always have a lot of fun."

This is the town's official "boom start" for the summer, she said.

Saturday, tomahawks and muzzle loaders were almost as common as cell phones along Mackinaw City's parade route.

At left: During the Mackinaw City Memorial Day Parade, youths carry the banner for the 2008 Fort Michilimackinac Pageant Saturday, May 24. Pictured (from left) are Mackinaw City residents Ellie Valot, Kash O'Brien, Savannah Grimmer, Brandee McArther, and Zach DeMoines.

The parade began just after 1 p.m. with the national anthem. The procession was led by the Coast Guard color guard from Station St. Ignace, followed by the Mackinaw City High School Band dressed in colonial British military garb. The parade honored veterans, military groups, fire services, and rescue organizations, who received applause from the audience as they passed. The parade also set the stage for the pageant that followed.

French, English, and Native American reenactors enlivened the crowd by firing blank muzzle loaders along the way. Michigan high school bands, beauty queens, antique cars, floats put together by area businesses, and civic groups paraded, and the highly praised antics of the Scottville Clown Band brought up the rear with a musical flourish.

The Color Guard of the United States Coast Guard station in St. Ignace leads the Mackinaw City Memorial Parade, followed by the Mackinaw City High School band Saturday, May 24.

Hosted by the nonprofit Fort Michilimackinac Pageant, the parade included 75 entries and continued until about 2:30 p.m.

"It was one of the smoothest parades we have ever had," said organizer Bob Fisher. "We had good outfits, reasonable crowds, and perfect weather."

Judges awarded the grand prize to the Scottville Clown Band. The Most Humorous award went to the St. Ignace Fire Department clowns, and the Queen's Trophy went to Miss St. Ignace, Marcie Rickley.

The parade ended near the grounds of Colonial Fort Michilimackinac, where the free annual pageant was performed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Mrs. Tracy's husband, Robert, Mackinaw City resident Ken Teysen, and Francis McMahon, former superintendent of Mackinaw City Public Schools, organized the modern version of the pageant in 1962. Since then, the pageant has changed only slightly, mostly to upgrade the accuracy of historical clothing.

Perhaps the most significant change has been renaming the show, Mrs. Tracy said.

Once entitled the Michilimackinac Massacre, the pageant's striking display of French, Indian, and British history centers on June 2, 1963, when the British garrison was attacked by Ojibwa in an attack masked as an innocent game of baggataway, which is similar to lacrosse.

The pageant began with a scene designed to capture a common sight at the end of the French and Indian War. Onlookers watched as French and English armies converged at the fort. The French lowered their flag. The English raised their colors. The French accepted defeat, ceded their territory, and said goodbye to the Indians they had befriended.

Knowing they had lost the war, the French force actually left Fort Michilimackinac weeks before their successors arrived, but the scene set the stage for the true historical events that followed.

Native Americans reacted to the condescending treatment they received from the British, which led Ottawa Chief Pontiac to devise a plan to rid the Michigan area of the British. At Fort Michilimackinac, the plan included the baggataway game that took place just outside the fort. Indian women hid weapons beneath their clothing, and as the game proceeded, the ball flew over the fort's wall several times. Eventually, the British opened the gates to allow the Ojibwa inside to get it. On the way in, they retrieved the concealed weapons and promptly destroyed their enemies.

Clearly the crowd's favorite scenes, the baggataway game and the battle drew cheers and cries from onlookers, who became part of the event several times when the baggataway ball flew into their midst.

An educational fashion show preceded the pageant in which a narrator explained the details of garments worn by common people living in the area at the time, and the clothes worn by the French and English military forces. He noted how several versions of the uniforms had been influenced by Native American clothing.

The Michilimackinac Pageant is the largest, longest running event of its kind in Michigan. It relies on hundreds of local participants, and hundreds of reenactors from throughout the state.

Many reenactors from Mackinaw City have been involved in the pageant for most of their lives and now have children in the event.

"It is tradition," said Leo Terrian, who plays a Native baggataway player in the pageant. "We grew up into it. It's almost like being taken back in time. It helps that [the pageant] takes place on the site of the actual event. There are few that do."