RUGBY The Prairie Village Museum bandstand will hum with big-band swing, old-time fiddle music, folk-rock and blues from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 14 during the Village Fair in Rugby.
Featured entertainers include The Gentle Winds Orchestra, an eight-piece swing band from Minot; singer-songwriter Anna O. (a.k.a. Colleen Jelsing) of Rugby; and 17-year-old old-time fiddle champ Gabe Brien of Belcourt.
Marvin Bald Eagle-Youngman of St. John will lead kids in the traditional American Indian game of double ball. Kids also can try their luck with a hobo scavenger hunt and explore Prairie Village Museum's new hobo jungle. And the Penn Station Players children's theater will present "School-less Days & Shoeless Days," a medley of songs from "Oliver" and "Annie."
Article Photos
Submitted Photo - - Presenter Marvin Bald Eagle-Youngman of St. John will lead kids in the traditional American Indian game double ball, shown being demonstrated here.
Bald Eagle-Youngman also will share his extensive knowledge of medicines made from native plants. Other demonstrators will include: spinner and soap-maker Lydia Gessle, owner of Prairie Fire Soapworks & Fiber in Harvey; blacksmith Dean Hagen of Maddock; professional seamstress and Victorian-era clothing expert Marilyn Niewoehner of Rugby; quilter Cindy Haakenson of Willow City; cook car bakers Bill and Nancy Nix of Knox and Diane Dufner of Rugby; and lefse and rommegrot makers from Sons of Norway Lodge Odin No. 087.
Visitors will find school teachers in Juanita School, butter makers in the creamery, a clerk selling penny candy in the general store, a bartender selling root beer and a couple of gals playing piano and singing in the saloon. Volunteers will be popping popcorn, scooping ice cream and making floats at the drug store.
A classic car show will augment the museum's extensive collection of antique and classic cars and farm machinery. New this year is a farmers market. Among those selling the fruits of their labors will be gardener Wally Fretland and Lillian Domres, maker of Grannies Donuts, both of Towner.
Fact Box
Museum to offer hobo day camp
Prairie Village Museum is offering its first-ever day camp, "A Hobo Adventure," Monday through Aug. 12 and on Aug. 14.
Campers ages 7 to 13 will rebuild the museum's hobo jungle, learn hobos' secret code, make bindles, cook over a campfire and more.
The camp will run from 10 a.m. until noon Tuesday through Friday. On Sunday, during the Village Fair, the "road kids" will "jungle up" near the "crummy" (caboose). They'll "talk west" about how they came to be hobos and lead a scavenger hunt that will introduce other kids to the marks hobos made to communicate with each other as they crisscrossed the country.
It's estimated more than 100,000 people lived along the railroad tracks in semi-permanent camping communities in the 1900s. Most hobos were young, unmarried English-speaking migrant workers.
Cost of the camp is $20; $16 for museum members. Registration is limited to 12 participants. To register, stop in today at the museum or call 776-6414.
An all-faiths church service begins at 9 a.m. led by Brenda Burns of Knox Community and Lebanon Lutheran churches.
The annual Village Fair pancake breakfast will run from 8 to 11 a.m. Burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, grilled chicken salad, pie and more will be available for purchase for lunch and throughout the day.
Village Fair admission is the same as regular museum admission: $7 for adults; $6 for students or seniors (65-plus); $3 for kids ages 7 to 17; free for ages 6 and younger. Family admission (parents or grandparents with minor children) is $18.
For more information visit (www.prairievillagemuseum.com), find the museum on Facebook or call 776-6414.
The Village Fair is supported in part by special projects grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives its funding from the state Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Expert on traditional games, medicine to share experiences
Marvin Bald Eagle-Youngman knows many traditional American Indian games, but the one everyone likes best is double ball, and that's the one he'll be teaching Aug. 14 at the Prairie Village Museum.
"Its real name is 'Women's Game,'" Bald Eagle-Youngman said. "Traditionally women played it while the men were gone hunting. It was designed to teach coordination, running and dodging skills the women would need if the village were attacked. So they were learning things and having fun at the same time."
The double ball is two balls made of buckskin, stuffed with bison hair and sand, and tethered by a piece of leather. Players score points by using sticks to catch, carry and toss the double ball down the playing field. They score points by wrapping the double ball around goal posts at each end of the field.
Bald Eagle-Youngman was young and living with traditional people near Browning, Mont., when he first picked up a double ball stick. Little did he realize he would spend much of his adult life teaching double ball and other traditional games to children and adults throughout the Upper Midwest and Canada.
It started with invitations to teach double ball and other games at area schools. Eventually Bald Eagle-Youngman became a founding member of the International Traditional Games Society based in East Glacier, Mont. He learned more games and taught in more schools, at camps and other gatherings.
In 2000, he decided to return to St. John, bringing his knowledge of games and other traditional arts, including medicine, beadwork, leatherwork and flute-making to his birthplace.
Soon Bald Eagle-Youngman had members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, as well as kids across North Dakota, playing double ball and other traditional games. To date he can count at least 5,000 as his students.
Expertise
Bald Eagle-Youngman's life as a persistent and respectful student has helped in his instruction. He has spent years approaching the right people, and in the proper manner, so as to learn the medicinal uses of more than 100 native plants. And like those who have taught him, Bald Eagle-Youngman will prepare some herbal medicines on request. However, he is reluctant to share the exact names and uses of some plants because self-medication could cause problems. But during the Village Fair, Bald Eagle-Youngman will be ready to talk about the many and sometimes unexpected uses of prairie plants.