Stroll Backwards in Time

Festival of Adventures gets its name from the fur trade era. In those days, an "adventure" was considered a full trade season, or year. Festival of Adventures is a fesitval of the years. Our timeline extends from the 1790s to 1890s and relates to the role the Aitkin-area played in Minnesota history. There is a lot to see and do, so plan to spend at least one full day enjoying the festival.

Each September, the community of Aitkin rediscovers their past during Festival of Adventures & the Wm. Aitkin Fur Trade Rendezvous. This event is a living-history festival that allows the visitor the opportunity to travel back and experience Aitkin's colorful past, from the 1790s to the 1890s.

One begins in the 1890s, when Aitkin was a lumbering boom town. Explore life in an Aitkin county pinery camp. Get the rules of the dining hall from the camp cook or listen to the circuit "sky pilot" preach about the wages of sin. You might enjoy visiting with a riverboat captain who is making plans to take another round trip upriver. You might even run across some of the 'ladies' who entertain the boys fresh in town from the pinery camps at the local saloons.

Venture further back in time to the 1840s, before the lumbering days, and you will discover the trade camp of famed fur trader William Aitkin. Mr. Aitkin has a post along the Mud river and currently is an opposition trader to his former employer, the American Fur Company.

Cross the historic Mud river and you will enter the 1790s and the era of the British fur trade and the Northwest Company's era of dominance. Experience the rendezvous camp of traders bartering for furs. You have traveled two hundred years into our past.

This is only a sample of what sights you will encounter along the way as you time travel back through two centuries of our past. Festival of Adventures is held at the Depot Museum around mid-September each fall. In addition to talking with costumed living-history interpreters, you can view exhibits recounting our rich past at both museums.

Experience the rich cultural heritage of people who have settled in this region over the past two centuries. Native American pow-wow dancing, early-American clogging, ethnic music and colorful costumes all combine to provide a unique glimpse of our heritage.

Unlike anything experienced anywhere else, Festival of Adventures provides interpretation of the rich and colorful history of the Aitkin area. The visitor will come away with a new understanding and appreciation of our local heritage. The experience provides the visitor with new understanding and appreciation for our landmarks, place names, natural features and local history.

There's something about the crisp autumn air, the occasional crackle of campfires, a distant sound of bagpipes, the slicing of a two-man saw or the roar of cannon firing a salute. The eye is drawn to the stark row of primitive lodges emerging in a haze from campfires, colorful costumes and actual relics of our past. The soul is soothed by the escape from modern daily life and, if only for an instant, you're a lumberjack, riverboat captain or voyageur Come experience the joys of time-travel for yourself.

For more information about Festival of Adventures, call our office at 800/526-8342, or e-mail us at upnorth@aitkin.com.

What to See and Do

Depot Museum - Explore the history of the Aitkin area and Aitkin County through exhibits and artifacts. Special display exhibits are devoted to steamboating on the Mississippi and the Northern Pacific railroad. The Depot Museum occupies the historic Northern Pacific Depot. (Off site, but nearby to Festival of Adventures)

Pinery Camp - In the mid- to late-1800s, northern Minnesota was undergoing a transformation. As the last great stronghold of timber east of the Great Plains, this region was dotted with colorful pinery camps that cut timber by winter and floated the cut to sawmills in the spring, via the Mississippi. The Pinery Camp living history experience includes a camp cook, a sky pilot, blacksmith, wood-butcher and assorted lumberjacks demonstrating their skills. Located in the Log Museum area.

Medicine Show Stage - Located near the food area and Pinery Camp area, this stage features entertainment relating to Irish, Scottish, German, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish immigrants; Native American culture, and medicine show skits give a period-feel to the Pinery Camp area. There is always a schedule posted of current and upcoming performances both days.

The Woodland Stage - Located in the rendezvous area, this is where the early-period entertainment performs throughout the day. The performances may include Celtic music, Scandinavian folk, and bluegrass. Voyageurs, special guests and entertainers sometimes share duty along with the musical and dance performances. here is always a schedule posted of current and upcoming performances both days.

Food Area - Dine on mouthwatering treats as you enjoy music, dance and entertainment. Located next to the Main Stage area. Also, special period foods are available in the Rendezvous encampment area.

Games of Skill - Try your hand at throwing a tomahawk. There is an all new tomahawk throwing area to sharpen your throwing skills.

Period Demonstrators - Learn about crafts, trade skills and occupational requirements of people who lived and worked in our area in the 1700s and 1800s. Learn from a riverboat captain, an immigrant woman, railroad worker, voyageur, fur trade clerk, candlemaker, blacksmith, gunsmith, soapmaker to name a few. Numerous demonstrators and costumed living history reenactors are located throughout the complex and all eras are represented. These characters provide the means for you to experience your own personal time-travel.

Historic Mud River - This is the same historic river that was traveled by Native Americans enroute to Sandy lake from Mille Lacs. It was also along this same river where William Aitkin had his post in 1840-41, near the Mississippi. A special bridge spans this river only during the festival, linking the 18th and 19th century eras.

William Aitkin Trade Camp - Community namesake, William Alexander Aitkin operated a post in the immediate area in about 1840-41. This camp features a living-history portrayal of Mr. Aitkin's trading camp that he operated before building the post. Learn how the economy of the fur trade worked, meet Mr. Aitkin, his clerk Mr. MacDonald, and voyageur Pierre Vienne. See how trade goods were bought with furs and what were the items most sought-after by the the Native American hunters.

Pow-Wow Demonstration - Native American dancers demonstrate their cultural dances in colorful regalia. Learn about the different types of pow-wow dances, the significance of the drum and the history behind dances of today. You may even be asked to join in and participate in a Round Dance. The pow-wow demonstration dance circle is located in the rendezvous camp.

Rendezvous Encampment - The American Fur Company, and the North West Company before them, held rendezvous to allow the partners to meet, supplies to be ordered and furs to be transferred for shipping. Bourgeois, clerks and voyageurs alike enjoyed the brief respite from the normal isolation they endured in the interior. The Rendezvous Encampment is where you will experience the life and times of Minnesota's fur trade era, encompassing 1790-1840. The Rendezvous Encampment is located across the river from the Pioneering & Pinery Camp, via the bridge spanning the Mud river.

Special Events - Unique demonstrations, Mr. Aitkin's arrival and salute, and other features of the festival will be listed by time on the entertainment schedules posted near the stages. Things like cannon skirmishes, log-sawing demonstrations, voyageur song, border disputes, roving musicians, etc. can occur at anytime and will not be listed on the schedule. Be on the alert and spend all day at the festival so you don't miss anything!

If you have any questions or desire further information about specific aspects of this event, see our FAQ page or feel free to contact us with your questions: