Skills Fair this weekend

CATALDO –– The 40th annual Historic Skills Fair at the Old Mission State Park is this weekend and after taking a year off in the midst of the pandemic, it promises to be a fun weekend.

Vendors and demonstrators alike rewind time roughly 200 years as part of the festivities and attendees get the opportunity to see what life was like as the region was settled.

The Skills Fair is an event to showcase skills that were used by people during the early Mission years, including demonstrations on the diverse techniques used to build the Mission, such as wattle and daub, and different clothes, food, and other basic needs that were either handmade or gathered.

Frontier Regulars will be on hand to reenact what a soldier’s life was like during the 1800s, including demonstrations on how their equipment correlated with their uniforms.

There will also be various crafters from the time period, Dutch oven cooking, flint knapping, quilting, basket making, blacksmithing, and mountain men.

Additionally, there will be a live history of trapping and fur trading, as well as live music from bands Nowhere North and Rusty and Chrissy.

Slab Meat will be on site providing a delicious food option for event goers to enjoy throughout the days as well.

“Enjoy delicious food, dance to live music, activities for kids, and learn a new skill like quilting, tatting (lace making), and spinning,” Rikki Nichols with Old Mission State Park said. “Skills demonstrations will be throughout the weekend and you won’t want to miss the Cannon (Sunday) and Rifle Reenactment (Saturday).”

The annual Historic Skills Fair is this Saturday and Sunday, July 10 and 11, at the Coeur d’Alene’s Old Mission State Park, located at 31732 S. Mission Road in Cataldo, Idaho, just off exit 39 of I-90.

For more information please visit the Historic Skills Fair Facebook page, or contact Rikki Nichols at (208) 682-3814, or by email at rikki.nichols@idpr.idaho.gov.