Cedar River Rendezvous & Raffle!

Event Summary

The Cedar River Rendezvous: Where the past comes ALIVE!

It’s that time of year again – The Cedar River Rendezvous! This year the Rendezvous will be held on September 23rd -25^the at the Mitchel County Conservation Board headquarters, located just west of Osage on Highway 9. As Mitchell County Conservation Board and Environmental Education Foundation staff prepare for this fun event, we thought we would share some history on traditional rendezvous and on our own Cedar River Rendezvous.

Traditionally, a rendezvous was a large meeting held once a year at a central meeting ground. The rendezvous provided an opportunity for trappers and traders to display, trade, and sell the furs and goods they had gathered and made throughout the year. The rendezvous was a chance to make money needed to buy essential goods, like blankets, knives, flour, etc., or to trade furs or products. It was like the super shopping center of its time, providing everything from food and clothes, to jewelry and music, all in one place. Most importantly, however, the rendezvous provided a place for people of all backgrounds and cultures to trade knowledge, skills, and ideas.

The Cedar River Rendezvous - This event is meant to be a celebration of the history of this area. Throughout the day, visitors will experience that history through hands on activities and way-of-life demonstrations. The time periods represented span the whole of Iowa History, from the fur trapping era (mid 1600’s-mid 1800’s) to Pioneer Settlement (Mid 1800’s-early 1900’s) and everything in between, such as the Civil War. The Cedar River Rendezvous began in 2011 as an extended celebration of an outdoor recreation and shooting sport day. Since then, the Rendezvous has continued to grow and now hosts over 400 school children and hundreds of local visitors. The main purpose of the Rendezvous is to encourage local citizens, especially youth, to understand, appreciate, and spend time in the natural world around us. We try to link the environment with our history by describing how different cultures used the natural resources found in this part of Iowa. Many of the skills demonstrated at the Rendezvous were needed for survival during the early days of Iowa. Life was not easy and our ancestors had to work very hard to exist on this land without the help of modern conveniences, like electricity, motors, and computers.

Since the main focus of our event is education, we do not charge a fee for attendees. All profits for this event are based on donations. As part of a promotion for the 2016 Cedar River Rendezvous, the staff and volunteers are hosting a raffle with thousands of dollars in prizes! For a $20 donation, participants in the raffle receive a ticket. Winning tickets will be drawn on Saturday, September 24^th. Proceeds will go towards educational demonstrators, performers, and instructors. This includes historical reenactors and musicians, and skill instructors, like wood carving, weaving and spinning, soapmaking, blacksmithing, etc. To join the raffle, please contact Mitchell County Conservation Board at (641) 732-5204.

So now, are you ready to take a walk back in time?  If so, join us September 23rd-25^th for the 2016 Cedar River Rendezvous!

Category

Special Events