Island Rendezvous Celebrates Fur Trade Era with Two Day Festival

The 29th annual “Island Rendezvous,” a free, all-age family program sponsored by the Forest Preserve District of Will County, will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, at Isle a la Cache Museum, 501 E. 135th St., (Romeo Road), 1/2-mile mile east of Route 53 in Romeoville.

The Island Rendezvous features re-enactors and entertainers portraying traders, explorers and Native Americans in the 18th century.

Visitors can wander through a voyageur encampment and observe period crafts, watch demonstrations of 18th century skills and enjoy live period music. Other activities include storytelling, children’s games and crafts and a scavenger hunt.

Also available both days are a musket contest, tomahawk throw, skillet toss and falconry demonstrations.

Isle a la Cache Museum, devoted to the 18th century fur trade, will be open both days. Admission to the museum is free.

The Island Rendezvous is free of charge, but vendors will be on hand with clothing, jewelry, tools and other crafts from the period that can be purchased.  Food will also be available for sale.     

Parking is free of charge.

Most locations are accessible via paved or limestone paths, and some activities will take place on level surfaces across uneven terrain.

For more  information, call Isle a la Cache Museum at 815-886-1467 or visit ReconnectWithNature.org for a full schedule of both days’ activities.

In providing programs and services to the public, the Forest Preserve District of Will County will make reasonable modifications to ensure that all people have an equal opportunity to enjoy District offerings.  For more information, visit ReconnectWithNature.org/ADA.

To view a slideshow of last year’s Island Rendezvous, click here.

Editor’s note: The information above is from a press release issued by the Forest Preserve District of Will County.