Feast of the Hunter's Moon 2014

 This weekend was the Feast!  I ran this event in 2002 (and prepped for the 2003 Feast, but got hired on at Purdue before it happened).  I love this reenactment festival.  The sights, smells, food - aaahhhh!  Camden has gone one other time, but she was just a babe.

We took the shuttle bus in and as soon as we got off it, Camden said, "What is that smell?"  That, baby girl, is the FEAST!

From my experience, the re-enactors are just slightly off their rocker.  But they are beautiful and it's what makes this event so spectacular.

She heard "festival" and could only picture games with prizes.  She wasn't too sure about walking around and just looking at things.  So when we found a game of Cricket going on, she wanted to join in.  Kevin stood with her as their team fielded.

He stood close by when it was her turn to bat, but she did it all by herself.  As we left the game, her attitude about the Feast had dramatically had an upswing.  This was the best place ever!

But then she was slightly obsessed with finding the next game she could do.  She reluctantly sat down to listen to the Tippecanoe Fife and Drum Corps, but quickly feel in love with it too.  We tried to pry her away once, and she wanted to stay.  It was actually good that we stayed, because shortly afterward, they fired their guns.  Too cool to have missed!

We headed next for the children's area and everyone quickly got involved in games.  Kevin played a board game, while Camden and I played Graces (the two sticks and hoop tossing game she played at Conner Prairie) and then some other board games inside the tent.

Next we went to the dress-up booth where she could get into period costume.

She also got to need some dough and churn butter.

 
But the Feast is called that for a reason...the food!  Camden tried stuff that I never would have imagined.  The Voyageur Peas Soup was her first adventuresome eating.  She watched the Boy Scout troop stir the pots over the fire while Kevin got a bowl. 

But her favorite food was the buffalo stew, the gingerbread cake, and fry bread with apple butter.

She also loved shopping for her souvenir at the end of the day.  We had seen enough wooden toys that we knew one would be purchased.  She selected a sword and Kevin also wanted to get her a ball and hoop game (spoiled!).

She was so proud of that sword and wore it the rest of the day in her belt loop.

Kevin was tempted by the coyote skin hat, but the $150 price tag was enough to pass on it.

All in all it was a great time at the Feast.  Camden said she couldn't believe that it was such fun.  We will definitely make this an annual event.