Fort wraps up

Residents say they enjoyed the weeklong events at the old fort but they wished more attractions were available throughout the summer.

Maurice Zeleny and his wife, Sonja, from Thunder Bay, traveled up to Fort William Historical Park to participate in the wrap up event of its weeklong activities on Sunday. The traditionally staggered events, such as the great Rendezvous and fort under siege, became a solid week of attractions, which began on July 9.

Zeleny said it was nice to have a different genre a day as they camped out in their RV and were glad to have attractions to go to in town instead of traveling to other regions.

"It’s right in your backyard," Zeleny said. "It was a little different this year. Some of the events you were familiar with and some you weren’t. However, you don’t have to go very far so you can’t really complain."

While Zeleny liked being able to choose what events to go to, for the rest of the summer however, there weren’t any other major attractions to bring him back to the fort, he said.

"I wouldn’t mind if they had another event in August just to spread things out," he said.

Ron Konkol and his wife, Jackie, from Thunder Bay, brought their RV to the historical park to enjoy the scenery. The couple had attended previous fort events, such as the country concert last year, and said they enjoyed the music and an activity within the city.

Konkol said it’s a good idea to have a solid week of activities so people don’t have to repeatedly come back to the fort.

"You can see everything all at once," Konkol said. "You can get it all over and done with and then save something later for the August or the beginning of September. That’s the way I would do it."

Konkol added that the concert event Rock the Fort was a good idea and would liked to see that event resurrected.

Marty Mascarin, communications officer for Fort William Historical Park, said they get the question a lot about bringing back the rock concert but wasn’t certain if it would ever return.

Mascarin said they decided to change the summer programming to draw in more people. With the end of the events in sight, he said the condensed activities were a success in achieving their goal.

"I think there are some interesting things we can build on," Mascarin said. "The idea was to convey a sense of condensed programming. This event started around the same time as the Blues Festival and Thunderfest. So instead of seeing it as competition, we though to look at it more as a collective (attraction)."

Fort under siege depicts the invasion of Fort William by military forces under the command of Hudson Bay affiliate Lord Selkirk in 1816. This was a pivotal point for the North West Company and contributed to the company eventually having to merge with its rival the Hudson Bay Company.

It started at the battle of Seven Oaks. A North West Company employee, who happened to be the chief director’s god son, lead a tribe of métis on an assault on the settlers which left 20 dead. Among the dead was the governor of the settlement.

Mascarin said Fort William interpreters portray the major messages of these events into an open theatre for spectators to watch.

"It allows a lot of our interpretive staff to take on some major roles," he said. "It is an exciting day for them as well as our visitors."