Fort Wayne flea market / National Park Day: Mar 31 & Apr 1

**WaCoTS** · March-25-12, 10:23 PM

I am writing to you all to remind everyone that this Saturday March 31, 2012 is National Park Day sponsored by the Civil War Trust. We are the only site in Michigan to host this great event. Across 26 states Saturday, lovers of history will be converging on national and state Civil War sites working to clean them up. We are proud to be so honored to host this one day event at Historic Fort Wayne.

The Historic Fort Wayne Coalition is also providing lunch of hot dogs and chips. We also will have bottled water and gatoraid on site all day for all. The hours are from 9:00am to 4:00pm and registration will be in Bay 2 of the Barrack Building. Lunch will be served at 12:00 to 12:30 and then all will meet outside the Barracks Building at for a speech by John Gibney for Civil War Trust. At 12:50 we will pose for a group photo with all of us posing with our tee shirts on. Come when you can and enjoy a great day as we support National Park Day. Please bring loppers, cutters, rakes, work gloves and a good back. We are going to have a great time.

We are also co-hosting the Historical Flea Market and Collectibles Show. This show will be both Saturday and Sunday. The public will be allowed in 10:00am to 4:00pm Saturday, and 10:00am to 3:00pm on Sunday. This will be a
great show with many vendors and baked goods for sale.

In case you have not been down and you remember the Visitor Center from last year, well it is not the same this year. The transformation that has taken place on the interior is unbelievable and the front half is almost done. We will be painting the Gym next and then on to the painting of the Barracks Building windows and balcony railings.

The front page article of the Free Press for May, 1861 about the Camp of Instruction [[what the Fort was called during the Civil War) said the reporter entered the grounds of the fort and was greeted by the familiar noise of axes and picks cutting back years of overgrowth [[the Fort had lain dormant for many years). Well today you can come down and repeat history, although we use chainsaws, lawn mowers, and tractors. So please come on back down and give us a hand. We have 80 aces to maintain and any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

We also have a couple hundred volunteer students coming from U of M that weekend. as i understand it, the area of focus will be the overgrowth atop the north bastion of the star-fort.

trying to maintain the grounds of this huge site is a year-round job for Joe, Ron, and myself. we depend on large volunteer events like this to make any kind of progress at all. it's too much for three men to handle on their own. according to US Army records, when the Fort was in operation as an active post, a grounds crew of 38 able-bodied men working full-time were required to maintain the site. today, there are myself Joe, and Ron, who are in their 50s...and we all have jobs, families, outside responsibilities, etc.; we do this without pay, in our spare time.

bottom line--we could use some help. especially on a permanent basis. [[especially if you know how and are willing to help maintain equipment and do small engine repair). help save a landmark.

**WaCoTS** · March-25-12, 10:35 PM

btw, i guess it is worth mentioning that the Fort is located at Livernois & W Jefferson Ave. sometimes i forget that not everyone knows where it is located.

to get there just take your favorite freeway to the Livernois exit and head south toward the River. Livernois will spit you right out into the Fort's front gate.

the city will probably charge you $5 to park...i am not 100% sure about that though.

**kryptonite** · March-28-12, 07:42 AM

Fort Wayne will be hosting a cleanup this Saturday. Also this weekend is the flea market at the fort. Tours of the fort also.

I received an email from the coalition and they are requesting that volunteers working on outside projects bring rakes, loppers, pruning equipment, etc. It should be a fun day.

http://www.historicfortwaynecoalition.com/

**kryptonite** · March-28-12, 11:02 AM

More information in this mailing:

Good Evening to All Members,

I am writing to you all to remind everyone that this Saturday March 31, 2012 is National Park Day sponsored by Civil War Trust. Remember we are the only site in Michigan to host this great event. Across 26 states Saturday the Army's of lovers of history will be converging on National and State Civil War sites working to clean them up. We are proud to be so honored to host this one day event at Historic Fort Wayne. We have 300 [[one size fits all XL) tee shirts and 300 patches to provide to all who show up. The HFWC is also providing lunch of Hot Dogs and Chips. We also will have bottled water and garter aid on site all day for all. The hours are from 09:00 to 4:00 and registration will be in Bay 2 of the Barrack Building. Lunch will be served at 12:00 to 12:30 and then all will meet outside the Barracks Building at for a speech by John Gibney for Civil War Trust. At 12:50 we will posse for a group photo with all of us posing with our tee shirts on. We will need all members to come down by 8:30 am to assist in final site preparations. All coalition and National Park day guests will park on the large field [[Hospital site). Come when you can and enjoy a great day as we support National Park Day. Please bring loopers, cutters, rakes, work gloves and a good back. We are going to have a great time.

We are also co-hosting the Historical Flea Market and Collectibles Show. This show will be both Saturday and Sunday. The public will be allowed in at 10:00 am. to 4:00 pm. Saturday and 10:00 am. to 3:00 pm on Sunday. This will be a great show with many vendors and bake goods for sale.

In case you have not been down and you remember the Visitor Center from last year. Well it is not the same this year. The transformation that has taken place is absolutely unbelievable and the front half is almost done. We will be painting the Gym next and then onto the painting of the Barracks Building windows and balcony railings.

The grass is growing and flowers are blooming. Grounds needs assistance in maintaining the site. Wed night work has started and on the weekends. We need as many members as we can muster to come fight back mother nature. May 1861 front page of the Free Press article on the Camp of Instruction [[what the Fort was called during C. W.) said reporter entered the grounds of the fort and was greeted by the familiar noise of axes and picks cutting back years of overgrowth. Well today you can come down and repeat history although we use chain saws, lawn mowers, and tractors. So please come on back down and give us a hand. We have 80 aces to maintain and any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Please tell everyone you know about this upcoming weekend at Historic Fort Wayne. This is our first event for the season and it would be great to see a full lot. Please share info on your facebook and other social sites. Lets move this week to spread the word and I look forward to seeing you all at the fort.

Yours in the Fort,

Tom Berlucchi
Chairman HFWC

**WaCoTS** · March-28-12, 11:11 AM

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...r-31-amp-Apr-1

yes please come help us at the Fort! or come for the flea market, or both

**WaCoTS** · March-29-12, 08:39 AM

looks like theyre predicting nice weather for Saturday & Sunday

**kryptonite** · March-29-12, 09:34 AM

WaCoTS, the event sounds great. I hope to be there with a friend or two and we'll be bringing yard work tools. I love spending time at Fort Wayne, what an incredible place.

**downtownguy** · March-29-12, 09:45 AM

WaCoTS, seems like you neglected an opportunity to plug your organization. I was curious and googled it to find your home page. Anybody else who's interested, you can find it here: http://www.historicfortwaynecoalition.com/

**downtownguy** · March-31-12, 11:54 AM

Nice little story in The Detroit News today on the clean up:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...text|FRONTPAGE

Good job, folks!

**p69rrh51** · March-31-12, 10:02 PM

Was nice to tour the fort today.

**pgn421** · April-01-12, 12:12 PM

Not much of a turnout for the flea market. Maybe due to the weather

**JenniferL** · April-01-12, 10:19 PM

I couldn't make it to the flea market this time.

It was held a little early this year, which would partly explain the low turnout. I guess they had to change the date because of Easter?

**kryptonite** · April-02-12, 10:24 AM

I was able to make it there for about two hours Saturday with two friends. Fortunately one had a chain saw. It was inspiring to see so many young volunteers there helping out. Even the wet weather helped some, a tractor was there pulling up some weed trees and buried poles. The wet ground made the job easier. It was a super day, I hope next time I can work there longer.

**WaCoTS** · April-03-12, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by kryptonite

It was a super day, I hope next time I can work there longer.

"next time" is tomorrow, btw. if you join the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition, you can come to the Fort anytime you want. Wednesdays & saturdays are our usual workdays in the summer. either go to http://www.historicfortwaynecoalition.com/involved.html and print / mail the form, or show up at the gate tomorrow around 5pm [[assuming it's not raining) and tell the guard you want to join the Coalition. she will direct you to us.

from what i heard after we tore down, the flea market event was a success. financially speaking anyway. and the vendors all seemed very happy. i was too busy working in the star-fort to notice whether the turnout was big or not. we got more work accomplished with those volunteers who showed up this weekend than we normally accomplish in 6 months. having Richard and Ric picking up cut brush with their tractors helped a great deal.

even more than needing volunteers to help us do manual labor, we need people who are willing to learn how to do tours, and to man the front gate on the weekends. so if you think you dont have anything to offer to help us out, youre wrong. all you have to do is show up and sit at the front gate with the gaurds on saturdays or sundays to help us collect parking/tour fees. this would be an IMMENSE help, because that lets the guys who have been stuck doing it every weekend to have someone to rotate shifts with.

having someone at the gate during open hours is mandatory for us, so that means if there is no one else to do it, one of us might be called away from an important task elsewhere to go sit there. personally i hate sitting at the gate. i could be out doing the heavy lifting. so if youre a person who hates heavy lifting, PLEASE consider joining us to help out with the gate.

**kryptonite** · April-03-12, 02:40 PM

Wacots, I believe my 2012 membership should be active. I sent in the payment at the end of 2011, but it could be that I was just late sending in dues for 2011, so I will have to send in a payment for 2012 to be certain.

Whoever publicized the event did an incredible job. The turnout was impressive. Was nice to see so many people working and touring, especially younger people. We worked at the start fort removing trees Saturday. Myself and another of our group are not in great health but we managed to cut/prune a fair number of unwanted saplings, vines, etc. If we hadn't made arrangements to be working at another place Saturday I believe we could have stayed until 1:00 or so and done more.

The entire event was excellent.