The Tittabawassee Valley Fife and Drum Corps play during the Mackinaw City Memorial Day parade Saturday, May 29. The group played alongside school bands, motorcycles, and elaborate floats as crowds lined the streets. The busy weekend in the village, featuring the annual parade and re-enactments at Fort Michilimackinac, is the unofficial start of the summer season. Evan Thompson walked about South Huron Avenue, stopping periodically to take photographs with eager visitors staying at Mackinaw City for the Memorial Day parade Saturday, May 29. Mr. Thompson, who was fully dressed in Indian garb, is the son of the late Robert Thompson, who played Chief Wawatam during the annual Fort Michilimackinac Pageant. As he talked with villagers and visitors, he explained he has been a part of the pageant since he was three months old.

“I take personal pride in this because this is my heritage,” he told The St. Ignace News.

At right: A gun trader demonstrates how to load and fire one of his wares to a group of Indians during the Fort Michilimackinac Pageant Saturday, May 29. The fort was a center of trade with salt, spices, guns, blankets, and other items. Pageant re-enactors could be found everywhere throughout the village as they prepared to join the parade. Many local residents take part in the parade and re-enactment at Fort Michilimackinac every Memorial Day weekend. Families lined the sides of the streets, some eating sweet snacks and others drinking water to stave off the heat of the day.

The parade was diverse in its offerings, with an electronic fire hydrant dodging around parading fire trucks, motorcycles rumbling down the thoroughfare, and impressive floats gliding down the street full of flowers or designed to look like the Mackinac Bridge. Clowns joked with the crowd, sitting in peoples' laps in mockexhaustion and playing at crashing into visitors with their bisected bicycles.

Top: Jennifer Swanchara of Berkley (from left), Jessie Przybylowicz of Petoskey, Cheyenne Woolever of Levering, Mallory Curtis of Sault Ste. Marie, Rachael Minnick of Indian River, and Megan Terrian of Indian River explore Mackinaw City, dressed to participate in the Fort Michilimackinac Pageant later that day. School bands played their best and some made a performance of it by dancing and spinning about as their music roused the crowd.

“We had a nice weekend,” said parade organizer Bob Fisher. “The weather was absolutely perfect.”

About 74 floats were in the parade, which was down from last year, but, he noted, “The attendance was probably the best I've seen in years.”

Portraying Local Historic Battle

Uncle Sam hands a small flag to Carl Prowant of Shelby and his son, Noah, during the Mackinaw City Memorial Day parade Saturday, May 29. Families lined the streets of Mackinaw City as the parade marched through the heart of the village, complete with booming music and capering clowns. After the parade, at Fort Michilimackinac, crowds stocked the bleachers, eager to see the historic battle re-enactment of the Indian attack against the British soldiers. The fort was once a major center for trade, and was under the control of the French, who had co-existed with the Indians. The fur trade was important, prompting the British to travel to the fort in an attempt to lay claim to a portion of it.

The French gave up the fort in 1761 after their loss in the French and Indian War. Relations with the Indians became increasingly strained as the British treated them as servants. They gave few gifts, and provided barely enough ammunition for the Indians to use their guns. Without the ammunition, concerns arose about starvation.

The Fort Michilimackinac Pageant is composed of a volunteer cast re-enacting an Indian attack against the British. Bridget (from left), Jean, and Karen Paquet have participated in the pageant since the early years when it was established. The attack plays out this weekend just as it did in 1763:

In an attempt to rout the British from the Northwest, Chief Pontiac calls a war council near Detroit and creates a frenzy among the tribe to destroy the British. Part of the movement involves a clever attack against the fort.

The Indians play a game of baggataway, similar to lacrosse, in front of the fort in June 1763. The British watch the game as the Indians scramble in the field. Women dressed heavily in blankets despite the heat of the day gather nearby, but draw little attention. The mass of Indians also outnumber the British, but this, too, creates little concern. During the pageant, the re-enactors dash across the field in pursuit of the ball to the cheers of the crowd. At times the game, which is also called “little war” owing to the chance of serious injury to players, spills over near the crowd. Everyone gasps. The Indians begin to set their trap as they intentionally toss the ball over the fort's walls. They wait the first time for the British to return the ball, and hurl the ball over the wall a second time. An Indian attempts to retrieve the ball, and is granted access to the fort. The third time the ball is tossed, a group of Indians enter the fort and launch their attack. The women reveal the weapons hidden underneath their blankets, and the British are slaughtered in the assault. Visitors watch as soldiers are chased out of the fort, overcome by their pursuers. Few survive, with several who do becoming slaves afterward.

At right: Clowns Circles and Dynamite sing happy birthday to Angel Brown of Grand Rapids during the Memorial Day parade Saturday, May 29. The duo dashed, stumbled, and danced around the village streets, amusing visitors with their antics. With the end of the pageant, attendants climbed off the bleachers and spoke with the reenactors, asking about their clothing and identities.

Chair of the Michilimackinac Pageant Committee, Florence Tracy, said the turnout for the pageant was a bit better than last year.

“We had great crowds on Saturday. Our bleachers were almost chuck-full,” she said.