Saturday guests can enjoy featured arts and crafts inside the Trade Center Museum in Loachapoka as part of the Second Saturday event at Pioneer Park.
On the second Saturday of every month, volunteers and re-enactors gather at Pioneer Park to demonstrate their arts and crafts. Blacksmiths are usually working at the forge, spinners and weavers are upstairs in the Trade Center, and someone is always cooking up a period meal in the Cook House or outdoors over an open fire.
This Saturday Andrea Crowder will assist children and adults in creating old fashion bookmarks.
Mary Lynn Porter and Mary Burkhart will help children make their own, special Valentine cards.
At 9 a.m., The “Basket Cases,” which is a group of folks who enjoy making baskets the old-fashioned way, will continue their classes in making pine needle baskets under the leadership of Mike Thurman.
It may be mid-winter on the calendar but the gardens at Pioneer Park are still open for visitors. Camellias should be at peak bloom in the Heirloom Camellia Garden and the jonquils and daffodils are blooming all over the park.
The Trade Center Museum and other museums are open on Second Saturdays, and the Whistle Stop Pickers gather to practice their dulcimers at 1 p.m.
According to event coordinators, this is a great opportunity for visitors to explore the museums and enjoy a period meal from the Cook House at noon.
Event coordinators would like public input and if you have ideas for Second Saturday events or would like to participate, contact Crowder at amchomemaker@yahoo.com or 706-518-3609.
Pioneer Park and Second Saturdays are hosted by the Lee County Historical Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, presentation, and education about local history. More information can be found at www.leecountyhistoricalsociety.org