“Tuesday, July 26, 2011 10:07 AM
CASPIAN—The Ferrous Frolics festival at Iron County Museum on Saturday, July 30, is offering reduced admission of only $3 per person from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on that day only, courtesy of the Caspian DDA.
A pancake breakfast, sponsored by the Golden K Club, will be held in the museum Cultural Center from 8:30 a.m. to noon.
Tickets are $5 per adult and $3 per children and are being sold in advance through Golden K members, at the Chamber of Commerce and at the museum.
Tickets will also be sold at the door on Saturday morning. Everyone in the community is invited.
Vendors will be on site, selling a variety of craft items.
The blacksmith shop will be open and antique farm machinery will be on display both days.
On Saturday, Northwoods Animal Shelter “residents” will be on the grounds, looking to be adopted, or at least be petted.
Smoky Bear will make an appearance about 2 p.m.
On Sunday, July 31, the regular admission price of $8 per adult will prevail.
Vendors, food and refreshments will be available from noon to 4 p.m.
After browsing the grounds and shopping, attendees can relax or dance to the country music of Paul and Roy in the Cultural Center from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
The blacksmith will post hours each day.
Antique farm machinery will be on display both days, in addition to access to all the numerous buildings throughout the museum grounds.
Ferrous Frolics provides a unique opportunity for both tourists and locals to have a “peek into the past” at a bargain price.
For more information, call the museum at 265-2617.”
Andy told me about this event he used to go to as a kid and it sounded great; add to this the fact that Andy’s parents have a cabin on Camp Lake and we had the ingredients for an outstanding weekend!
We drove up on Friday the 29th. Once we got to the cabin, which turned out to be a beautiful 2 story house right on the lake, we unloaded out gear and headed over to meet up with his grandmother who works at the museum. We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant then headed back to the lake. We checked out the lake, the pier and discovered I’m a giant sissy when it comes to being in a canoe. For more on that click HERE.
After the failed canoe attempt, we headed over to a local bar where I repaired my damaged pride by winning a game of pool, drinking beer and watching extreme sports on a big TV:) We eventually decided that morning was soon to come so we headed back and crashed for the night.
In the morning we headed over to the museum for the pancake breakfast. We paid our admission, got out plates and went into the main hall to sit down with Andy’s Grandmother and some of her friends. While eating our pancakes and sausage, I enjoyed listening to several people at our table chat and tell stories of older times. Events like this are rich with history and knowledge if you know how to listen respectfully and encourage the conversation. After a while people started to move around so Andy and I set out to explore the grounds. We checked out several of the buildings and saw some really neat old machinery.
Best of all, they had a working Blacksmith. His name was George Potvin and he runs “Ten Mile Creek Forge” in Bark River Michigan. We sidled up to the open doors of the smithy and stood grinning as George was explaining to someone else what he was doing. After a while they left and George turned his attention to us, welcoming us further into his shop even offering us the opportunity to crank the blower which delivers air to the forge and helps make the fire burn hotter. Being first to crank, George guided me to an appropriate speed to gain heat but not waste fuel which turns out to be a pretty delicate balance. We asked questions when they occurred to us and listened as George and his friend chatted with people who wandered in and out of the shop. After a couple of hours or so, George turns to us and says “Well, it’s about lunch time so I’m going to grab a bit to eat. Did you guys want to hammer on some metal?” Wide eyed and barely able to contain ourselves we nodded in unison so he dug around and came up with some bar stock. “Here you go, have fun” He said, and headed for the museum.
“Whattaya wanna make?” Andy asked me. I said I didn’t know, let’s just see what happens. We put the bar in the fire and got it hot. Andy pulled it out and started pounding on one end to start a taper giving Andy the status of being the first one at Fox River Forge for strike metal as a blacksmith apprentice!
He did a couple more heats and got a decent taper going and turned it over to me. I heated the other end and made a loop. As I was working on the loop some other festival goers walked in. We hastened to explain that we were NOT actual Blacksmiths and were in fact just learning. The people asked questions anyway and there were some we were able to answer. We have both been reading and researching this craft for almost a year prior to this event. I was surprised at what I was able to explain. I’ve said for many years “Sometimes the best way to learn is to teach.” I then heated the middle and attempted a twist. This took a couple of tries before I got the tongs on it properly to get the twist. I turned it back over to Andy who was working on the taper when the actual Blacksmith walked back in and asked us what we were making. We admitted we didn’t really know, we were just working on some basic techniques. He suggested a couple of bends at the tapered end to create a fire tender. Andy followed his guidance and before long, our aimless experiment became a functioning tool we have utilized with actual campfires!
It was an exhilarating and encouraging experience.
George did a great deal to help us gain knowledge and confidence and we can’t thank him enough. Please check out this link to his website and if you get a chance visit the store. I know we plan to.
After such a great afternoon, we stopped in town for a pizza and beer at a local pub, picked up some supplies and headed back to the lake to watch a couple of movies and then hit the sack. In the morning we handled a couple of chores at the cabin and at Andy’s Grandmothers house then headed home. It was a great weekend and we look forward to checking out next year when we can encourage some friends to come up and take part in a great event.
