Fun fur sure: Millersville man runs the Rendezvous

The second annual Eastern Ozark Rendezvous is this weekend, and Tommy Smith is the guy who makes the event possible. When you see him this weekend, you probably won't recognize him -- he'll be disguised as a French fur trapper or frontiersman.

"I'm what they call the 'booshway' of the event," the Millersville native said. "That's the person who is boss over the event. I basically do everything -- everything that has been done out there. I'm not tooting my own horn, but I don't have a committee or anything. A lot of it comes out of my own pocket, at my expense, but it's all worth it when you see the kids come out there and you see the look in their eyes when they get to see the furs and crafts, the throwing of the tomahawks."

Smith said children are allowed to take part in the tomahawk-throwing event, but it's under close adult supervision.

"A lot of times that lights the spark in a kid's eye, and you know, if it takes something that simple to get them interested in history, we're all for that," Smith said. "I've been going to rendezvous for several years.

"I went to my first one probably when I was 8 years old," Smith said. "I got to throw the tomahawk, and I just fell in love with it. Unfortunately I didn't get started in it until later on in life. I haven't looked back since."

Smith said there are several rendezvous around the area, which he is involved with as well.

"There's one in Greenville, which has been going on for 40 years. That's down by Wapapello Lake. It's put on by Crowley Ridge Blackpowder Club. I'm a member of that. I also go to one at Fort de Chartes in Illinois, across the river from St. Genevieve and several others across Missouri and Illinois."

Smith said he "saw a need for one in this area," because of the lack of "living history."

"So I thought, what the heck, I'm going to put together a rendezvous and do this myself here," Smith said.

It's different from a Civil War re-enactment, Smith explained, because a Civil War Re-enactment is based on famous battles.

"The Rendezvous came about in the 1820s through 1840s. All your suppliers and trade companies, they would pack in their supplies to a pre-announced location, and this basically happened in the spring and summer after the hunting and fur-trapping season was over," Smith said.

The location would be announced and all the trappers, tradesmen and frontiersmen would meet up, trade and have competitions and "just enjoy the camaraderie and brother and sisterhood that they've been living without the whole season," Smith said.

"When they were in the mountains they were living a life of solitude, and they'd go stir crazy up there, so it kind of let them unwind."

All the frontiersmen and trappers who traveled up and down the Missouri river would meet to trade and replenish their supplies, Smith explained.

"Some of the big trade companies would sign and contract new trappers, and those trappers would go in and work for them to do their trapping," Smith said. "Then you'd have others who were more independent, and that is who I depict, the fur trapper. He wasn't under contract. He was his own boss."

At the Rendezvous this weekend, in addition to seeing Smith disguised as a fur trapper from the 1840s, you'll also see traders, housewives from the era, Native Americans, frontiersmen, free trappers and even some soldiers.

Handmade goods will be available this weekend, too, such as furniture, tea from original recipes brought all the way from New England and handmade jewelry and clothing.

There is no fee to attend, but Smith said the participants are charged a fee, which pays for the campground, firewood and it also pays the landowner, Barks Plantation, for the use of the land.

"It also pays for the shooting prizes we give out at the end of the competition," Smith said. "We'll have what they call a 'smooth bore shoot,' which involves a firearm with no rifling in the barrel. We'll also have a rifled shoot, and you'll see both flintlock guns and cap and ball guns.

Other events include a "post shoot," which is a three-man team shooting competition.

"We all break off into teams and shoot at a 4-by-4 post. The first team to cut the post in half wins," Smith said. "And that's going to be the cream of the crop for the public to see. That will be 2 o'clock on Saturday."

If there are ever any ties after a competition, Smith said you settle that score by facing off in a "hawk block," which is a tomahawk-throwing event.

"We will have a "candy cannon' for the kids. That's a canon that shoots straight up into the air, and the kids get in a big circle around this canon filled full of candy, and it shoots into the air ..."

Smith said you will also see some guys "sitting around playing music at their tents."

"The noise of the camp is great, and there's always the smell of food in the air," Smith said.

Barbecue from Hinkebein Hills will be available for purchase, along with kettle corn provided by Linda and Jamie Gleason of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. At each campsite, Smith said, you'll see people cooking meals over open campfire and using their cast iron equipment.

The camp has "traders row," according to Smith, where tents are set up similar to "little stores," with merchants, tradesmen and artisans.

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Local celebrity

Perryville, Missouri, native Paul Montgomery is a 10-year-old who recently received the chance of a lifetime -- an all-expense paid trip to be part of Nickelodeon's "School of Rock."

"He received $500 spending cash and then he got paid for being on-set," Brandy Lindsey said. "He was only in a three-second clip, but all expenses were paid except for food."

Montgomery won by watching the TV show "Hunter Streak" last June but wasn't allowed to reveal his stardom until the show aired, Montgomery's mother Brandy Lindsey said.

"You had to find the hidden letter, and at the end of the week enter those letters, and he was chosen," Lindsey said.

Paul Montgomery, third from right, surrounded by the cast of Nickelodeon's "School of Rock."Photo by Nickelodeon Studios

Lindsey said Montgomery was the secondary choice because the initial winner's parents didn't agree to the contest rules.

Montgomery won the competition in early June, according to Lindsey, and the family had been under a gag order until March 11, the on-air date of his appearance in season three, episode 17, "We Gotta Get Outta This Place."

During Montgomery's on-screen time his role was to "run around" during the episode's "fire drill," explained Lindsay.

For the show's taping, Lindsey and Montgomery made their all-expense paid trip to Hollywood, California, last July.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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