Live History Days draws folks to simpler times
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POLSON — The quiet, almost sweet trill of the fife curled around the grounds of the Miracle of America Museum during Live History Days Saturday and Sunday.
Clad in historically correct wool trousers, a wool jacket (correct except for its lining), a leather belt with a U.S. buckle, a white shirt and forage cap of a Civil War soldier, Alessandra Alcala coaxed tunes from the fife.
Alcala, from Missoula, first got interested in the fife when she joined a fife and drum corp.
During wartime, the fifes and drums were used as communication, she said.
“Fifes could be heard above the battle and drums below the battle noise,” Alcala said.
Each tune had a different message — one for getting up in the morning, one gathering, and one for attack. The bugle came into use for communication during the Civil War, Alcala said, because a soldier could play the bugle with one hand and still ride a horse.
Alcala played songs from “Stories and Stones,” a fife songbook from the Civil War era while an army motorcycle zoomed by with a smiling child in the sidecar.
Gil Mangels from the Museum pulled out all the stops for the event.
Spinners, a beader, a bird carver, a pine needle basketmaker, a sawyer working on the museum’s sawmill with fragrant Montana cedar, plus many rides for kids and adults alike brought the museum to life. A tank lumbered around the buildings, two trains ferried younger kids and unusual vehicles cruised the grounds.
Around every corner was another building filled with fascinating period items — boats, bicycles, vintage vehicles, furniture, quilts, businesses, machines, pieces and parts. Then there was the interior of the facility, with motorcycle gear, beaded items, guns, saddles, photographs, china, clothing — so many interesting items.
Other events in Polson, Elmo and St. Ignatius helped draw people to the area.
“We had a very good Saturday with 300 to 350 people. The weather cooperated,” Mangels said, saying he asked the Lord for good weather.
While they might not have noticed the weather, tweens Kyra Waldoch and Shayla Torgenrud from Charlo liked the tank ride.
Wyatt Dunkerson, 2, seemed to like everything. He wandered everywhere, looking at the rocks, peeking into buildings, his tiny sneakers climbing stairs and pattering across wood floors.
A mixture of young and old admired, explored and learned from the Miracle of America Museum, and that’s what Live History Days is all about.