Living History Days Returning First Weekend in October
Living History Days, a festival organized by the Madison County Historical Society (MCHS) will be back this year on October 3-5. The goal of the festival is to inspire an interest in history by giving participants a taste of what life was like more than a century ago.
The Living History Days (LHD) festival weekend will feature special events at historic venues in Edwardsville and Glen Carbon, Illinois, where there will be music, hands-on activities for children, a quilt show, reenactors, and demonstrations, all capped off with a Sunday afternoon Chautauqua at Edwardsville City Park and a concert at the Wildey Theatre.
The festival kicks off with the St. Andrew’s Quilt and Fabric Arts Exhibit at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 406 Hillsboro in Edwardsville. The quilt guild at St. Andrew’s has been hosting beautiful quilt shows for more than a decade. The exhibit, with an entry fee of $5, will be held on Friday and Saturday.
Also on Friday and Saturday, the Col. Benjamin Stephenson House will have special activities on the grounds of their museum. There is an entry fee to visit the main house, but access to the kitchen, gardens, and outdoor activities are free during Living History Days.
Three concerts at the historic Wildey Theatre will feature American Blues music. On Friday and Saturday nights, Blood Brothers will entertain with their own special blend of Blues and American Roots music. Sunday night’s concert will bring Walter Trout, a Blues-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter, to the Wildey stage. He’s known as one of the best blues guitarists in the country.
Saturday has activities all day long with a continuation of the above, plus the following additional events: At Edwardsville City Park, the Edwardsville Public Library is holding their annual Book Fair which covers almost all of city park with vendors selling new and used books. Dozens of local authors attend and are more than happy to sign or inscribe a book for visitors. In Glen Carbon, it is Yanda Log Cabin Day with demonstrations, music, house tours, festival foods, and crafters. The Edwardsville Children’s Museum has free outdoor activities and access to the Nickel Plate Station. (There is an entry fee for the main museum.)
The closing MCHS event is a Chautauqua from Noon - 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Edwardsville City Park. On stage will be diverse musical entertainment from the St. Louis Osuwa Taiko, the EHS A Cappella Singers and the Civil War Band. Orators reminiscing about their lives will be President Ulysses S. Grant and Edwardsville’s first librarian, Sarah Coventry. There will be food and craft vendors, and reenactors will have a Civil War encampment which is fascinating for people of all ages. Yes, there will be horses in City Park.
A vendor application is available for those interested in being a vendor at Chautauqua. Vendor products must be appropriate to a historic event, i.e. handmade goods, books, demonstrations, etc.
A full schedule of events can be found on the MCHS website at https://madcohistory.org. For further information or if interested in being a vendor, call 618-656-1294.