Grace Long has been attending historical reenactments since she was a baby. Her parents would lay her in a cradle in their tent while they worked out front selling lye soap, pottery and other wares …
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Grace Long has been attending historical reenactments since she was a baby. Her parents would lay her in a cradle in their tent while they worked out front selling lye soap, pottery and other wares from the pioneer times.
On Saturday, 11-year-old Grace could be spotted by the fire, wooden paddle in hand, stirring a pot of soap.
“I like to think I'm a lot more intelligent because I do this,” Grace said. “I know stuff about the old time and how to do stuff like this.”
She and her parents, Rich and Cathy Long, came to Mexico from Warsaw to spend three days living as they would have in pioneer days. The Longs, like many of their fellow reenactors chose to camp on the Audrain Historical Society grounds for the Walk Back in Time festival.
“I’m used to country life so staying the night at reenactments like this, next to the road in bigger cities, oh, it gives me headaches,” Grace said. “I cannot sleep.”
Her friend Lor Kurth, who was camped nearby with The Pony Express, echoed her opinion.
“It’s loud,” Kurth said. “You’re just going to sleep and then you hear someone going by.”
Kurth has also grown up in the world of historical reenactments. She and her family, who currently live in Maryville, have been coming to the Walk Back in Time since she was a child.
According to Kurth, this year’s event was smaller than it had been in previous years and she suspected that it may have something to do with generations beginning to age out of reenacting.
“I don’t think young people join, which is really fair, because it’s kind of miserable,” Kurth said.
Kurth explained that reenactors endure all types of weather from rain to 100-degree summer days dressed head-to-toe in period-appropriate clothing.
And while last weekend in Mexico was better than most, it can still be difficult.
Despite the challenges, Kurth and Grace agreed that they enjoy what they do, especially when they get to reunite at the Walk Back in Time.
Looking the part is only a small facet of being a reenactor because one major aspect of the Walk Back in Time is education.
Phil Woolfolk, a reenactor from Centralia, said he has been participating in the Walk Back in Time since day one.
He portrays a traveling Native American doctor and his favorite part of every Walk Back in Time festival is education day on Friday.
“I primarily do this for the kids,” Woolfolk said.
Tim Hirzel, or Private Robert Frazier as he was known for the weekend, agrees that teaching kids about history is a highlight.
“I was up there talking about rope making because kids really are intrigued by rope making,” Hirzel said.
The reenactors come from all over the state and represent different time periods, but they shared a common goal – to preserve the nation’s history and at the Walk Back in Time.
