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Duneland Heritage Days Festival at the Indiana Dunes

September 14, 2011

Explore and celebrate our shared heritage at the Duneland Heritage Days Festival on September 17 and 18, 2011 from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Located at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore's historic Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm. This free event features authentic music, dance, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and traditional foods for the whole family. Kids can complete special activities and earn junior ranger, firefighter, and archeologist patches. Parking for the event is located across from the Chellberg Farm on Mineral Springs Road in Porter, Indiana.

Start your day with a stroll from the parking lot or take the shuttle to the Bailly Homestead, a National Historic Landmark tucked away in woods along the Little Calumet River. Learn how Native Americans and early Euro-American immigrants lived, traveled and traded in the Duneland region before 1870. Watch Native American singers and dancers, play early native games, tour the historic Bailly house, listen to stories from 150 years ago, and discover what National Park Service archeologists have unearthed.

Sarah Bennet and father Keith practice hammering skills at Chelberg Farm.

Then take the shuttle or amble the trials through the forest to the restored Chellberg Farm. The century spanning 1830 to 1930 reflects a dramatic shift of regional land use from small family farms like the Chellberg farm to a more industrialized society. Try your hand at labor intensive activities like cider pressing, bread and butter making, and food preservation. Let the kids play traditional games (no batteries or electricity required) and try your hand at clothes washing using a scrub's board with soap made at the farm. After all the activity, relax to the music of Trillium, Banjo Bob and the Nordic Kids dancers.

Finish your heritage journey at the modern Bailly/Chellberg Visitor Center and discover some of the diversity of our contemporary Duneland community. Drawn by industry, tourism, growing residential communities, and the beauty of the dunes, these recent generations helped create the state park and national lakeshore. At the modern site, listen to the music of the Drum Divas and the stories of Mama Edie or you can go eye to eye with a falcon, rehabilitated by Take Flight. At the activity booths learn how the early ecology and conservation movements shaped these lands and preserved them for this and future generations.

For more information on this or other programs at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, visit the park website at www.nps.gov/indu/planyourvisit