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FRONTIER FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
The festival covers the whole gamut of frontier life and settlement. It includes fiddle music, medicine shows, an art and craft show, hoop dancing, songs and music from the Civil War, period dance instruction classes, and a military costume ball. The festival is truly an event the whole family can enjoy. The festival began in 1978, as a way to promote the continued preservation and restoration of Fort Sisseton. The annual 3-day event draws more than 20,000 visitors and 200 camping units. Our local supporters have “accused” us of doubling the population of rural South Dakota.
Return to Fort Sisseton Festival
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Annually, during the first full weekend in June, a historical festival is staged at Fort Sisseton. Each year, cavalry troops and infantry units converge on the fort’s grounds to form a military encampment complete with soldiers, women and children, and all the necessary tents, uniforms, horses, and memorabilia. The military is joined by fur traders and other participants of the Rendezvous. Muzzleloaders, riflemen and crack-shots from eight states meet amidst a teepee encampment with dozens of lodges and traders. Just like old a time rendezvous, colorful costumes, tall tales and unique system of bartering, help bring history to life. 
Curt Jones, Bob Perry, Jack Adams, and Peg Lamont had a vision. As members of a volunteer group organized to promote and hopefully secure funding to restore the fourteen original structures at Fort Sisseton they had a plan. The first part of their plan was to encourage the Division of Parks to initiate a large celebration to commemorate life at a Frontier Fort and life on the prairie in Dakota Territory. 
Their belief was that if enough people were to come to a celebration at Fort Sisseton, those visitors would agree that these buildings should be saved for future generations. Even though many in this influential group have passed away, they and their families need to be given credit for the vision they created with the first Fort Sisseton Historical Festival. Many of this original group is active in the Governor’s Commission on Fort Sisseton which strives to carry this vision forward.