Like clockwork
Many favorites back for annual Old Wadena celebration
The Clockwork Clown, a mime and fire-eating act with a healthy dose of comedy, is back, joining the musicians, muzzleloaders and woodcarvers Saturday and Sunday at the 19th annual Old Wadena Rendezvous and Music Festival just north of Staples.
Acoustic folk music will come from the main stage, with artists and artisans demonstrating nearby, storytelling and other entertainment throughout the Old Wadena grounds.
The Clockwork Clown demonstrated the fine art of fire-eating at the 2008 Old Wadena Rendezvous and Music Festival.
The traditional rendezvous encampment of the Crow Wing Muzzle Loaders group will be back. The re-enactors will be camping, baking bread and demonstrating how the original trappers and traders lived, circa 1840. There will be knife-throwing, hatchet-tossing and other contests.
Also back will be trade tents, including Blue Frog Traders, and the candy store, and fry bread treats will be for sale at the food tent.
Also back this year is Ole Oleson and his stories about the Norwegian immigrant experience, and Dick Oehlenschlager, a Wadena county native, will be on hand to tell about the animals, flowers, trees and geology of Old Wadena Park. Among the story-tellers will be Sally Robertson with interactive mini-puppet performances.
The gates open at 9 a.m., with events beginning at 10 a.m.