FORT MASSAC ENCAMPMENT TO BRING HISTORY TO LIFE

METROPOLIS, Ill. - Some changes have been made at Fort Massac State Park in preparations for the 21st annual Fort Massac Encampment.

The battlefield has been moved, crafts and food venders have new locations and the encampment has a new co-sponsor.

More than 60,000 people are expected to attend the annual Fort Massac Encampment next weekend at Fort Massac State Park, on the banks of the Ohio River in Metropolis. The event is planned for Saturday and Sunday.

Last year's encampment attracted more than 60,000 people to the re-creation of French, British and American colonial military and civilian life in the Illinois territory before and after the American Revolution.

Park officials said attendance at the encampment has risen since it started 21 years ago. Over the past three years, more than 185,000 people have attended the encampment, which features historical re-enactors and skilled crafts people.

Attendance at the state park, which features a reconstructed fort, has also increased over the years, with more than 1.5 million visitors last year, more than double the annual 750,000 attendance a decade ago.

During the week preceding the encampment all park facilities, campsites and picnic areas are usually filled. The crowds have become so large in the past two years that shuttle buses were used last year to take visitors to the a parking lot at the Massac County Fairgrounds, a mile east of the park.

Merchants and businessmen in Metropolis and neighboring Paducah, Ky., benefit economically from the thousands of tourists, who spend the weekend at the park, using area motels, restaurants and other businesses.

The 1994 event will be co-sponsored by the Illinois Department of Conservation and Players Riverboat Casino at Metropolis.

Plans for the encampment were announced last week during a special conference at Fort Massac State Park. Also announced at the meeting were plans to construct a Christmas holiday lighting display in the park in mid-November by the Massac County Chamber of Commerce.

This marks the first year for co-sponsorship with Players Riverboat Casino.

"We're happy to participate in the annual Fort Massac encampment," Players General Manager Patrick Rogers said. "We feel this annual event provides the Southern Illinois region with entertainment along with enriching historical culture."

Illinois Conservation director Brent Manning said several features of the 1994 encampment will have new locations in the park.

The battlefield has been moved, more than doubling its previous size, Manning said. The relocation should dramatically change the look of the battle and give visitors better views.

The redesigned area, occupied in past years by crafters, also now provides a special fenced area for children.

The craft vendors will demonstrate centuries-old skills of basket making, wheat weaving, blacksmithing and broom making.

They will be moved to the west side of the museum, where food vendors were in previous years. Food vendors will move the east side of the museum outside the fence.

A program map will be available.

During the encampment, troops will represent the French, British and Americans. The French occupied Fort Massac from 1757-1763 during the French and Indian War.

Abandoned by the French, the fort was later burned. The British occupied the area during the Revolutionary. In 1778, the site came under U.S. control and in 1794, the fort was rebuilt to protect U.S. military and commercial interests in the Ohio Valley.

The last time U.S. troops were stationed at the site was during the Civil War when the fort served briefly as a training camp.

Fort Massac State Park, operated by the Illinois Department of Conservation, is the oldest state park in Illinois.

Visitors are invited to walk through the camps established by these troops and experience the conditions under which military men of the Revolutionary War period lived and fought.

The encampment will start each day at 10 a.m., with the posting of the colors.

Buckskinners, blanket traders and merchants will have their wares for sale or trade, featuring a vast array of items, including clothing, wigs, furs and leather goods.

The fife and drum corps will provide entertainment throughout the two days. Entertainers will perform in the craft area twice a day with music of the 18th century. A tight rope walker and jugglers will provide other entertainment. Activities continue until 5 p.m. both days.