Thank you, everyone! What a summer we have had at the fort! Our tour season busted wide open in June and stayed active all summer.
On June 6 we welcomed members of the faculty of the Blackfeet Community College in Browning along with their friends for a festive afternoon of tours after they enjoyed a luncheon at the Valley Community Center. They were most impressed with our restoration and preservation efforts at the fort. They also toured the cemetery and were pleased with the way we have marked the graves of the children who passed while attending the Indian Industrial School with their names and their tribal affiliation.
Many of them learned for the first time that none of them perished as the result of violence.
Then on June 8 over three hundred folks attending a reunion of the descendants of the Fort Shaw girls’ championship basketball team joined us. As well as our tours, they enjoyed meeting Linda Peavy, who is the surviving author of Full Court Quest. We were honored to have her do a book signing appearance while helping us introduce our newly remodeled gift shop and book store.
This marked the first time many of the attendees had visited the fort, and we were pleased with the number of very favorable reactions they experienced. Many of them felt a real connection with the fort and the way we have maintained it. We were most gratified that they included us in their activities along with their address by the organizers of their reunion.
On June 26 we were joined by over a hundred members of the national Vintage Chevrolet Car Club for a delightful day of tours that included a picnic under the trees on the school lawn.
This was the culminating event for their annual tour, which they based in Great Falls this year. They took a scenic cross-country drive from Great Falls to Fort Shaw that included more than fifty of their vintage Chevys. Their arrival made an exciting addition to our fort! Members of the Historical Society were joined by area volunteers the morning of the tour to make up over 150 lunches for their picnic, and they were most complimentary for our efforts.
On September 28 we welcomed members of the Montana History Conference to the fort for tours and presentations. They proved to be a most enjoyable group. Many of them were historians who already had an in-depth knowledge of the fort. They were thrilled to actually visit the buildings and the military cemetery we have restored to their late 1800s appearance along with the artifacts on display there.
From June thru September we welcomed visitors for our First Thursday open house events that included tours as well as presentations. As well as friends and neighbors from all over the state, folks from across the country made their visits a treat for us. We participated in several community activities that were more fun than real people should be allowed. Our float in the Valley Fun Days parade featured a couple of our girls who wore replica uniforms of the Indian Industrial School’s basketball team. They were a hit tossing candy to the kids on the parade route. We also had several members in period costume on our float; talk about antique artifacts! And our annual rummage sale experienced a perfect Montana summer day that made it a hit. They always turn into tours and reunions as well as raising much appreciated funds for our projects.
Now we are ramping down for the fall. There is always plenty for us to do at the fort, both to recoup from the summer’s activities and to incorporate the new artifacts and features we will present in the coming year. Keep in mind that no matter how many times you come, you never see the same fort twice!
And of course we greet those who just stop by and find that we are on the site. Quite often they experience an impromptu tour of their very own.
Come on out and see for yourself!
Members of the VCCA car club collect their picnic lunches from the porch of the Commander’s Quarters
Car Club members enjoyed their picnic lunches on the school lawn.
The vintage Chevys parked on the lawn beside the Commander’s Quarters. There were over fifty of them all told.
Linda Peavy book signing at Descendants of Girls’ Basketball Team reunion
Descendants attending addresses and awards ceremony in Fort Shaw Elementary School gym