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

[WaCoTS]

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.