About Rendezvous Days

The theme for this year's Rendezvous Days is food and historic foodways. This year the event will look at Indigenous foods, food of the voyageurs, and which foods were vital to the fur trade.

NPS Photo / G.M. Spoto

Grand Portage Rendezvous Days is Free and Open to the Public

Grand Portage Rendezvous Days is a celebration where friends and family return year after year to attend and participate in events held in the community. Held on the second weekend of August (August 9, 10, 11, 2024), this event is one you do not want to miss! Music, dancing, craft demonstrations, and hands-on workshops ensure an exciting visit to Grand Portage National Monument.

• Admission is free. Visitors are not required to wear period clothing. Come as you are!
• No vendors, demonstrations only
• Visit our Eating & Sleeping page for information about where to stay.
• Directions to the Monument from Duluth, Minnesota.
• No pets (except service animals) the stockade (Historic Depot)

For more information:

Questions? Please call 218-475-0123 or email us. Re-enactors and demonstrators looking to sign up email or call 218-475-0123.

 

Rendezvous Days Pow Wow

The Pow Wow, hosted by the Grand Portage Band, is located just up the road within walking distance of the Monument.

• For questions about the Pow Wow, including vendors, please email Brittany Anderson at the offices of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
• For details about the Pow Wow and schedule (coming soon) see the Grand Portage Rendezvous Days Facebook Page
• Service animals are allowed outside of the arena as long as they have their vests on. All dogs are prohibited within the dance arena.

 

See how the voyageurs cooked!

Photo courtesy of Kiri Butter

Food of the Fur Trade Era

Rendezvous Days 2024 - August 9th, 10th, 11th

"A French Canadian has the appetite of a wolf, and glories in it, upon my reproaching some of them with their gluttony, the reply I got was:
What pleasure have we in life but eating?" ~ David Thompson, 181

Special Guests

Bryce Stevenson:

From the Red Cliff Reservation, and owner/chef of Miijim on Madeline Island, Bryce produces Indigenous inspired dishes. Describing Miijim, he says it is “Ojibwe medicine with French soul.” Traditional flavors of roasted and grilled game meats like venison, elk, and rabbit paired with foraged ingredients such as local mushrooms, ramps, chaga, and bergamot, Miijim features an ever-evolving menu featuring the seasonality of the Chequamegon Bay and its farmers, foragers, hunters, and gatherers.

Heid E. Erdrich:

Author of Original Local: Indigenous Foods, Stories, and recipes from the Upper Midwest. Ms. Erdrich is a writer from North Dakota who curates art exhibits, teaches, researches and collaborates with other artists. She is Ojibwe, enrolled at Turtle Mountain.

Jeff Pavlik:

Known as “the Baker of Michilimackinac,” professional baker and re-enactor Jeff Pavlik will be baking and sharing knowledge of bread among the French-Canadian voyageurs.

 

Fish cooking in a historic holder over coals within a hearth.

NPS Photo

Rendezvous 2024 Specials & Workshops

Claire’s Sewing

Salon visit with Winnipeg tailor Claire Sparling. Bring any projects, patterns you may be working on, or questions concerning historic clothing.

Golden Galette Returns!

It is back! One year only! Participants grab a bag of flour and salt, head back to their camp to bake, and return hours later with their galette (a flat, round cake). Prize awarded to the best traditional historic based bread. The winner will receive the coveted Golden Galette Award!

Magic and Stories with the Voyageurs!

The return of the Story-telling, Magic, and Entertainment Extravaganza by Fort William Voyageurs Bates & Roy!!

Historic Brewing Roundtable Discussion

Presented by John Hayes, Isaac Walters, Leif Halvorson, Thomas Abthorpe, and Paul Ellenbecker. Living history reenactors share their experiences and discoveries researching and experimenting with brewing beer.

Tea in the Fur Trade

Join Kora Boisvert as she talks about tea drinking in the 18th century, in the fur trade and here at Grand Portage.

Fish of Grand Portage Bay

“The best of everything and the best of fish” John McDonald," Grand Portage, 1791

Listen from a local fisherman about what fish swim in our waters. What can we find locally in Lake Superior, neighboring lakes and rivers, how they are best prepared and how they taste.

Alexander Henry’s Pembina Pickles in Sap!

On September 19th, 1804, Henry wrote in his journal: “I gathered my cucumbers and made a nine-gallon keg of pickles, having plenty of excellent vinegar from maple sap, little inferior to that imported.”

Join famed historic foodways interpreter Kiri Butter of Thunder Bay as she talks about the incredible fur trade story of pickles in the interior and vinegar making.

The Long Skillet

Our favorite blacksmith, Robert Rossdeuscher, will hammer and forge, discuss and demonstrate the long handles often seen on frying pans in the fur trade. Though not a common item, these do appear in journals.

Spruce Beer

Known by some Indigenous people as “Jingo-Babo”, or by French Canadians “le petite biere,” there are many references to this beverage made small or at times alcoholic. Was it vital against scurvy? Military use? Sit among the spruce and learn from John Hayes about spruce beer from Henry Hudson’s exploration, to Benjamin Franklin's home, to 1850s Irish settlers in Northern Wisconsin…

Go Pound Corn!

Join staff in the Ojibwe Village to pound corn, some from the 2023 historic garden featuring historic heirloom King Phillips and Eight Row Flint. Prepared corn dishes will be on display (Bread, gruel, and lyed)

What’s Growing in the Heirloom Gardens?

Join reenactor Karl Koster to learn about this year's crops in the historic kitchen and Three Sisters gardens.

Leg-Bone Apple Corers

The scores of apples shipped into the fur country were first cored and hung to dry. In Montreal, early apple orchards produced fruit, likely prepared by the wives and daughters using a standard leg-bone corer. In this workshop much of the corer is complete. Participants file and sand them to finish your latest kitchen gadget.

Making the Birch Whisk

In this class students will clean, remove bark, and assemble a birch-whisk, the perfect tool for whipping egg whites and other kitchen operations. Birch imparts no flavor into food and is the number one choice for toothpicks and popsicle sticks, the use of these in a colonial kitchen was common.

Spills! And the use of the Spill Plane

Need some spills to start your fire, light your candle or your pipe? Come visit Winnipeg Carpenter Paul Shipman, as he guides you through use of a spill plane. Simple to learn and make yourself a handy product for your camp or fireplace.

Tinsmithing Workshop: The Cookie Cutter

Join Grand Portage Tinsmith Paul Cummings and make yourself a cookie cutter!

The Need to Knead?

Professional Baker and nationally known living historian Jeff Pavlik will discuss bread baking in the 18th century. Jeff will also provide tips and tricks when it comes to kneading dough, how much…how little, do you need to knead?

Foraging in the Fur Trade

Cattails, nettles, burdock, berries and more! How common was foraging among the Europeans involved in the fur trade? Did they learn local plants from the area's Indigenous people? Did voyageurs eat and harvest mushrooms? Join longtime forager and re-enactor Chris Felton and he delivers the basics of this ancient task.

The GREAT Kitchen Take-Over

For many years we have been blessed and very lucky to have our kitchen interpreted over Rendezvous by La Compagnie du Hivernants du St. Pierre, a re-enactment group from the Twin Cities. Yes, they will amaze again. Two other groups also will have a chance to “show their stuff.”

• Friday: Kiri, Berit and Friends
• Saturday: LaCompagnie
• Sunday: Snake River Girls (Sandy Gimpl)

 

 

 

 

Thank you to our generous sponsor!

If you’re interested in finding out how you can support Grand Portage National Monument, please visit our partner, National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation (NPLSF), at nplsf.org for more information. The mission of NPLSF is to provide financial support for projects and programs that preserve the natural resources and cultural heritage of all five national parks along Lake Superior. NPSLF is charged with their stewardship and is committed to their long term support, preservation, and enhancement.

 

Go Pound Corn! is one of the workshops using corn from the 2023 Three Sisters Garden.

NPS Photo / G.M. Spoto