May is Western Heritage Month in Fort Smith, and the Clayton House, in the city's Belle Grove Historic District, will offer a variety of family friendly activities on its grounds Saturday.
"When we plan things like this we almost get carried away," says Julie Moncrief, executive director of at the Clayton House. "There's so much fun to be had and so many great ideas that reveal the Victorian era and our frontier heritage to people."
FAQ
‘Boots, Badges, Bustles & Bows:
A Sarsaparilla Tea for Young’uns and Old’uns’
WHEN — 1-4 p.m. Saturday (Bass Reeves reading, 3-4 p.m.)
WHERE — The Clayton House in Fort Smith, 514 N. Sixth St.
COST — $5
INFO — 783-3000
The Clayton House was the family home of William Henry Harrison Clayton, the federal prosecutor in the famed frontier court of Judge Isaac C. Parker, according the Clayton House website.
Saturday's activities, for which guests are encouraged to dress in period clothing, include a tea on the lawn, a saloon with sarsaparilla and root beer samples, a sailboat regatta, old-time carnival games, a cake walk, maypole dance and live music in the gazebo.
For the sailboat regatta, children will build a sailboat out of paper, then race it down a water-filled pathway by blowing air through a straw toward the sail.
"It takes you back to a simpler time," Moncrief says. "It lets kids make something out of paper -- no electronics."
The day will close out with a dramatic reading of "Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, U.S. Deputy Marshal" by Reggie Moore, a historic re-enactor from the Fort Smith area.
"The book helps everybody learn a little more about that famous era of Fort Smith," Moncrief says. [Reeves] "was a real hero."
The book by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson tells the story of the famed deputy U.S. marshal and a former slave who helped arrest felons and fugitives in Indian Territory. He arrested more than 3,000 people, according to the National Park Service's website.
"Bass Reeves was a legend in his own time. He was the epitome of dedication to duty, Judge Parker's most trusted deputy and one of the greatest lawmen of the western frontier," the website says.
In 2012 a statue of Reeves on horseback was erected in Pendergraft Park on Garrison Avenue following a five-year fundraising effort, Moncrief says. The statue looks out toward the Arkansas River into Indian Territory, modern day Oklahoma.
-- Kelly Barnett
NAN What's Up on 05/27/2016