36th Annual Big Island Rendezvous and Festival this weekend in Albert Lea

The 36th Annual Big Island Rendezvous and Festival in Albert Lea, Minn., will be held this Saturday, Oct. 1 from 9 a.m.-6 p.m.  and Sunday,  Oct. 2 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
This event was declared one of the “Top 100 Festivals in North America” by the American Bus Association and the Minnesota Office of Tourism voted the festival as one of the state’s Top 25 Festivals. The Big Island Rendezvous is located at Bancroft Bay Park, Albert Lea.
Over 1,000 re-enactors from Canada and the United States annually create a 45-acre community that celebrates everything from 1670 to 1870 in early America. There will be woodland Indian camp, as well as a Pioneer Town with a chuck wagon, stagecoach, and jail, plus a gold panning demo.
There will be a live-round cannon fired three times each day by the New Ulm Battery, witnessed by President Lincoln.  Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah, will also be in attendance.
Blacksmiths, woodworkers, candlemakers, clothiers, silversmiths, potters and other merchants will sell their wares during both days of the festival.
Sustenance such as pulled pork sandwiches, kettle korn, and funnel cakes, as well as Indian Tacos, piggy nachos, turkey legs and fried bread will be offered.
Demonstrations of colonial crafts, Native American,  and pioneer skills are showcased throughout the festival. The weekend workshops include blacksmith, pottery, hide preparation, hat maker, fabric painting, and more.
Over 300 tents and campfires create 12 acres of atmosphere in which to shop and listen to the entertainment. Over 1,200 living history re-enactors carry on their day-to-day lifestyles, as it would have been done over 200 years ago in the New World. No modernisms are allowed on-site, so you will see no vehicles or modern plastic tents. You literally step back in time into a wilderness of history.
Stage entertainment includes Roe Family Singers, Wild Goose Chase Cloggers, Curtis and Loretta,  Sharon Martinson, Fish Heads, Amanda Standalone with Dick Kimmel, Bob Bovee and Pop Wagner (Saturday Only) and more.
For discount tickets and information call 800-658-2526 or email pvining@smig.net. Keep Oct. 1-2 open to experience “life in another century.”  
Free parking is provided at the  fairgrounds and a shuttle will be provided from Freeborn County Fairgrounds.
For more information go to www.bigislandfestivalandbbq.org.