42nd annual Territorial Fair provides day of time travel

The Historic Arkansas Museum, the collection of restored buildings and galleries in a block of downtown Little Rock, is a popular attraction for history minded tourists and a regular destination for school field trips.

Most Arkansans have strolled the grounds at one time or another, or at least driven past it. But a trip during the annual Territorial Fair, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, puts the museum in a whole new light.

Communications manager Chris Hancock says, "This is one of the most fun opportunities to experience everything the Historic Arkansas Museum has to offer because you see so much of what we offer in just one day."

This is the 42nd year for the fair, which gives visitors a taste of life before Arkansas became a state. Of course, the museum offers this every day through regular tours, but the fair is a different experience altogether.

"You're going to be surrounded by lots of simultaneous hands-on activities," Hancock says. "The grounds are going to be a very lively place. All these things sometimes happen on a smaller scale, but never everything at once like this."

The museum's staff will be portraying historical figures and generic 19th-century characters. So, visitors who drop by the Hinderliter Grog Shop can witness a group of gamblers engaged in a rowdy card game. Young people are invited to apply for an apprenticeship with Arkansas Gazette founder William Woodruff at the print shop, or seek a land deed from a territorial lawyer.

A master bladesmith will have the fires lighted and the hammer working in the blacksmith shop while artisans demonstrate other skills such as dyeing cloth.

The Arkansas Country Dance Society will teach visitors how to step and spin to popular, early 19th-century tunes while children can try out some of the pioneer-era games, which Hancock says "are always a big hit."

Because it's Mother's Day weekend, children will be given the opportunity to make Mother's Day cards to take home.

All of these activities will, of course, take place in and around 19th-century buildings in a carefully restored and re-created neighborhood, what Hancock calls "a perfect backdrop" for the old-fashioned celebration.

"It's really just an awesome opportunity to be totally immersed in what the territorial era would have looked like in downtown Little Rock."

In addition to the lively action on the grounds, visitors may explore the museum's galleries of Arkansas-made arts and artifacts, and the museum's store will be open for Mother's Day shopping and a book signing of Layne Livingston Anderson's Haunted Legends of Arkansas.

The Southern Center for Agroecology will also be selling plants, seeds and seedlings for spring planting.

For the first time, visitors will be able to buy lunch on the grounds, thanks to a visit by Gammy & Gamp's Home Style Food Truck.

Usually, visitors have to pay a fee to tour the grounds, but for the fair, parking and admission and all activities are free.

Weekend on 05/07/2015