Hundreds attend Living History Days

By Kathy Thomson

Fort Griffin Living History Days took place last weekend, and the annual event drew a sizable number of area students on Friday even though the two Shackelford County schools cancelled due to the threat of rain.

“We had two schools cancel on us due to the weather, including Nancy Smith Elementary and Moran Elementary,” said event specialist Eric Abercrombie. “We were hoping for a little better turnout on our school day, but it seems pretty commonplace that the weather gets kind of nasty on our living history weekend. It’s just the time of year for fall weather.”

In spite of the two cancellations, the event went about as expected, according to Abercrombie

“We somewhat made up for the loss of these schools with the addition of Breckenridge, who we weren’t expecting,” Abercrombie said. “That was a good surprise. We were originally expecting about 600 students and ended up with about 500, which was not a bad turnout.”

In addition to over 500 students from area schools, there were around 70 living historians at the event, according to site manager Mitch Baird. 

Many of the volunteers stayed for the evening and camped out at the fort. This year some of the Fort Griffin Living History Days volunteers from Good’s Light Artillery performed a night cannon shoot.

“The Saturday turnout was likely the lowest we’ve seen in recent years, but we didn’t do as much marketing of the event as in years past,” said Abercrombie. “The approximate number for Saturday was about 140 people. A large number of those were students coming with their parents.”