Feast of the Hunter’s Moon

Join us for the 51st Annual Feast of the Hunters Moon on October 6-7,  2018 at Historic Fort Ouiatenon Park near West Lafayette, Indiana. Thousands of skilled interpreters, French, English and other military reenactors, musicians, and artisans engage the imagination while inspiring exploration of the music, cultures, and crafts of the past. The first European settlement in Indiana, Fort Ouiatenon experienced different cultures and lifeways that built our nation.

Feast of the Hunters Moon

The Feast of the Hunters Moon offers both the public and the participants a realistic portrayal of the people, cultures, and lifestyles that existed on the French and English colonial frontier in the Great Lakes region during the time of Fort Ouiatenon, which encompassed the period from 1717-1791. We want to interpret this time and place as accurately as possible in order to offer the public an educational and unforgettable experience, and also to honor the people who lived here.

The Feast of the Hunters Moon is a weekend festival and historical reenactment held each fall on the first weekend of October (first Sunday) since 1968, at the present-day site of Fort Ouiatenon, a replica 18th century French military and trading post near West Lafayette, Indiana.

The Feast is held on the grounds of the Historic Fort Ouiatenon Park, on the Wabash River. The blockhouse is a replica of the original Fort Ouiatenon, which was the first fortified European settlement in what is now called Indiana. The fort served as a French trading post and was located approximately one mile downriver from the replica.

Hours
Thursday and Friday School Days (not open to public)
Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT
Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT

Program for Feast of the Hunters Moon
During the festival, participants reenact the annual fall gathering of the French and Native Americans which took place at Fort Ouiatenon in the mid-18th century.[5][6] Participants dress in the garb of the 18th century French soldiers, settlers, and Native Americans who lived in this region.[7][8] Food vendors sell traditional period foods such as rabbit stew, voyageur stew, and venison sausage.[6][8] The program also includes music, marching, dancing and renenacted military maneuvers.

Musical performances
As part of the event, various musical acts perform, including Native American drummers, historical folk music performers, French folksingers and period fife and drum corps.

Living history presentations
The event includes historical reenactments featuring period characters from the 1700s to educate visitors about the lives and culture of the period. One historical interpreter presented a Delaware Indian who first served as a scout for the French and whose people lived along the Wabash River in the 1700s and co-existed peacefully with the French at the outpost. Others play traders and gunsmiths, such as “Pierre Rolletof” of French Scots-Irish descent who traveled along the Wabash River trading a range of items, including guns, and also gunsmithed as he traveled. Other reenactors have demonstrated various period trades and crafts, including a chairmaker who built Windsor chairs to order, spending 40–45 hours per chair.

Location:
Fort Ouiatenon Park
3129 S. River Road
West Lafayette, IN 47906

School Days
The Historical Association annually offers Thursday and Friday before the public event as two special days at the Feast of the Hunters Moon for school groups:

Food Booths
The number and type of food booths is amazing. If you’re hankering for fry bread, buffalo stew, Rabbit Stew, Roasted Corn, Buffalo Burgers, Homemad Roootbeer, or breakfast, lunch and dinner fare, this is the place. Most food booths are operated by local not-for-profit groups that use their proceeds for charitable projects.

Sutlers
As you would expect, a huge gathering of sutlers will be present at the Feast of the Hunters Moon to offer period-era wares and crafts. Furs, clothing, wood work, toys, baskets, applehead dolls, musical instruments, barrels, cast iron fireworks, quilts and blankets, pottery, herbs, leather, and much more will be available for you to peruse and purchase.

Participant Information
At the Feast of the Hunters Moon We want to interpret this time and place (French and English colonial frontier in the Great Lakes from 1717-1791) as accurately as possible in order to offer the public an educational and unforgettable experience. Participants, merchandise, entertainment, and food should be appropriate to our time period and place, to the best of our knowledge and ability. Please read carefully the quality control section on the “Feast Participation Webpage“. All participants are responsible for knowing what types of costume, equipment, and merchandise are appropriate for their area.

Admission & Ticket Information
Adult: One-Day Pass: Advance- $10; Gate- $13; Weekend Pass- $18
Child (4-16): One-Day Pass: Advance- $5; Gate- $7; Weekend Pass- $9
Children under 4: Free
Family Pass (2 adults and up to 4 children): Advance- $30; Gate- $35.00

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