Offering a taste of the 1880-to-1917 time period, the Mackinaw Area Historical Society will host two vintage base ball games, display a cedar bark wigwam, and offer free tours of its Heritage Village during the Mackinaw Area Historic Festival Saturday, August 7. The celebration is free and will be held from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Now in its fifth year, the historic festival will offer a variety of information for visitors, from birds of prey presentations to discussions on Indian artifacts and customs during the village's time period.

A cedar bark wigwam will be on display, former society president Ray Roth explained, and its framework has been constructed from aspen twigs found around Heritage Village. A bark exterior is tied onto the framework.

“It's very basic, but it's because it would have been a temporary home for an Indian family for the summer season,” Mr. Roth said.

“These are quick-to-install buildings,” said society member Sandy Planisek.

A wigwam display is in the village, as the 1880s was a transition period for the Indians in the Mackinaw City area. By 1917, Mr. Roth said, these families would have been more likely to be into the assimilated society, holding jobs and going to school.

The Mackinaw Boys, Mackinaw City's vintage base ball team, will play two opponents for this year's event. The Boys usually play one game each year at the festival. The first game will be at 11 a.m. against the Ludington Mariners, against which the Boys have sparred in the past. At 1:30 p.m., the Bay City Independents will enter the field to meet the Mackinaw Boys. The festival will mark the first time the Independents have played in Mackinaw City.

Vintage base ball rules are different from modern rules. Players do not use helmets or gloves, and the umpire may agree to change a decision if the player objects to it. Players can also catch the ball for an out after it hits the ground once. Swearing is taboo in vintage base ball, with players fined a quarter for each offense. It was a steep penalty for the 1860s, as a quarter was a day's wages for some.

Visitors can learn how to square dance during the festival, and will also listen to Civil War era music by the Fifth Regiment Band, which will be in full Civil War uniform for the event.

A raptor display by Jeremy Stoppa of See-North will be at the village. Mr. Stoppa plans to bring two owls and a hawk, he told The St. Ignace News, and will be available at the start of the festival.

Tours of the buildings in Heritage Village will be available. The pestilence house, used to quarantine patients suffering from smallpox, will be open for viewing. Milk maids were in demand to care for patients suffering from smallpox in the pestilence house, as they often suffered from a rash called cowpox, according to the historical society. Maids who contracted the disease were resistant to smallpox, enabling them to safely care for the afflicted. Cowpox later became the basis for the first smallpox vaccine.

Heritage Village's Freedom Schoolhouse and community garden will also be open for tours.

The festival was originally known as the Summer Celebration.