Well, this is not the post I intended for this week. I’m still working on the next Life of Paul post and the next Creation post, but neither are close enough to being ready. The main reason? Things have been really busy at work lately and I have fallen behind on my research and writing, so I’m going to write a little about work instead for this week’s blog.

Osceola History has been celebrating its 75th anniversary all month and is gearing up for its 32nd annual Pioneer Day event next Saturday (November 2). Tied with that is our annual Education Day (Friday) in which we encourage schools to come and visit with the extra interpreters and artisans that we have on the premises. I have over 250 people who will attend on Friday, and we’re expecting over 2500 people to attend on Saturday.

Here are a bunch of pictures from previous years’ Pioneer day event. Just as a reminder, I wrote about our little Village in this post and this one and this one. The usually quiet streets will be filled with lots of activity this weekend!

We’ll have lots of volunteers on hand to both interpret the history of central Florida, but also to lend their hands to logistical support.

Our village is comprised of both original buildings built around 1900 and moved to this site for preservation and display, and also of buildings built as faithful replicas of other historic buildings, like our train depot – a replica of the depot in Narcoossee.

On Education Day, many of our interpreters will be on hand to tell their tales to the attending school children and chaperones, as shown here in our Florida Cracker house.

We’ll have stories of several families who pioneered the early settlements of Narcoossee, St. Cloud, and Kissimmee…,

… including immigrants from England.

We’ll also have artisans using various skills and materials to demonstrate life of the time period.

Children can experience a one-room schoolhouse.

There will be a number of crafts as well for all ages to try.

Some kids love dressing up for the day!

Visitors will get to say hello to a number of farm animals, including goats, chickens, ponies, and llamas.

We also have a Seminole chickees settlement in which you can see and hear tales of Seminole lives and experiences.

I don’t have pictures to show, but we will also have a number of food trucks, marketplace vendors, non-profit information booths, history presentations, games, and music groups to fill out your time. If you’re in central Florida next weekend, come on out and enjoy the fun at Pioneer Village at Shingle Creek (2491 Babb Rd., Kissimmee) from 10am to 4pm. It’s FREE!!!!!!!!!