History will come to life this weekend at the Audrain County Historical Society.

Soon, the grounds will be crawling with volunteers and reenactors who will immerse visitors in historical lessons at the Walk Back in Time as we come up on the nation’s 250th birthday.

“It’s hard to calculate how many people are on the grounds,” said Jennifer Prior, Audrain County Historical Society director. “I’ve heard it’s anywhere from 5,000-10,000 over the weekend.”

Prior explained that the free event is a huge deal to many of the committed reenactors who come from all over the state to participate.

“There (are) not a lot of them in the area to be honest,” Prior said. “But this is a big deal for us.”

Because it is such a big deal, the reenactors are organized by one of the few veteran volunteers this year, Paul Baum.

Baum has been walking the historical society’s grounds, planning out where reenactors from each time period will set up camp.

His goal is to create a seamless, chronological journey through key time periods in our nation’s history from Vikings and pirates to soldiers from the Civil War, World War I, World War II and Desert Storm.

Baum has also been instrumental in bringing back a full-scale replica of the keelboat that Lewis and Clark took on their Riverboat Expedition. The keelboat, which is kept at the Lewis & Clark Boat House and Museum in St. Charles, measures 55 feet in length.

Most recently, the keelboat made an appearance at the 2021 Walk Back in Time, and Prior explained that it will take a lot of work to guide the semi-truck hauling the keelboat up the hill to the historical society’s grounds.

The city of Mexico will shut down part of Muldrow Street today to assist in the keelboat’s delivery.

Another unique piece of history that will make an appearance at the Walk Back in Time will be a working stagecoach from West Plains, Missouri.

The Walk Back in Time will kick off Friday with education day, which Prior calls a huge undertaking.

Fifth-graders from Audrain County Schools get first dibs on a spot at education day before it is opened up to surrounding areas.

Prior estimates about 728 students will attend education day.

“They get to go through the camps (and) they’ll have a lesson in our country school house,” Prior said. “They’ll get to go into our church and listen to music and things like that.”

Education day is so popular, Prior has had to turn some students away.

Friday will come to a close with the Fish and Chicken Fry from 4:30-7:30 p.m.

Saturday is normally the busiest day with lessons, reenactments, tours and folk music all day long.

The grounds will open at 10 a.m. Saturday when the Missouri Military Academy color guard will hold its flag-raising ceremony.

The evening will end with the grand finale – Cowboys of the Open Range.

“At 9 o’clock, our cowboys will finish off with a gunfight,” Prior said. “They love their gunfights.”

Sunday is slated to include a service in the historic church followed by more lessons around the grounds, and it will end at 2:30 p.m. with a legendary hoe-down featuring Janet’s Dancers.

Prior has been attending the Walk Back in Time for the last decade – long before she became the director of the Audrain County Historical Society.

This will be her first year facilitating the event, which happens every other year, and she is learning as she goes.

At least she has a group of dedicated volunteers and city officials behind her.

“It takes a lot on everyone’s part to pull this off,” Prior said. “It’s been a big learning curve this year.”

She is hopeful this year will be another success despite its competition with the University of Missouri homecoming, because the Walk Back in Time attracts crowds from all over the state.

And perhaps, Prior mused, if all goes well, the Walk Back in Time could return to an annual event.