GINGRAS DAY! CELEBRATION TO FEATURE MÉTIS FIDDLE MUSIC, HISTORY ALIVE! PERFORMANCE, DEMONSTRATIONS AUGUST 10
by Anonymous

WALHALLA -- The ninth annual Gingras Day! festivities celebrating when the Walhalla area was a trading center for the Red River oxcart trade and the cultural center for the Métis community will take place Saturday, August 10 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site, North Dakota.

    Highlights of Gingras Day! will include Chippewa-Métis fiddle music by James LaRocque of Belcourt; the final History Alive! performance for the season of 19th Century trader and entrepreneur Antoine Gingras; and activities for people of all ages, including birch bark writing, where visitors will be able to try their hand at this special form of communicating. Children's activities include a hoop and stick game. There will also be basketweaving demonstrations, and guided tours of the Gingras Trading Post and Antoine Gingras Home will be offered, highlighting the rich history of the fur trade in the Red River Valley. Using the State Historical Society's Suitcase Exhibits for North Dakota (SEND) trunks, people of all ages will also have the opportunity to dress in period reproduced clothing and handle items of the fur trade era.

    All Gingras Day! events are free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. Visitors are encouraged to bring a blanket or lawn chair and join in the activities. Light refreshments will be offered during the events.

    James LaRocque and his Métis fiddle music is one of 14 North Dakota folk artists featured in the Faces of Identity, Hands of Skill: Folk Arts in North Dakota exhibit at the Pembina State Museum which highlights the traditions embodied in the lives of these artists representing a dozen cultural groups. He will perform during Gingras Day! from 1 to 2 p.m., and again from 3 to 4 p.m.

    Beginning at 2 p.m. will be the History Alive! performance of Antoine Gingras. Performed by Virgil Benoit of rural Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, Antoine Gingras will share his insights into the Red River oxcart fur trade of the mid-1800s, as well as the people and events of the era. A French language professor at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, Benoit is now in his eighth year portraying the Gingras character.

    There will be roadside parking during Gingras Day! Handicapped parking will be located on-site next to the Gingras Trading Post. In case of bad weather, the event will be held at the Pembina State Museum. For details in case of bad weather, tune to KNDK-AM 1080 Radio in Langdon, KXPO-AM 1340 Radio in Grafton or call the Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site at (701) 549-2775.

    Antoine Gingras was born in 1821 at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the son of a French-Canadian voyageur father and a Métis mother. In 1842, he began his career as a Plains hunter and trapper. He became an independent fur trader, concentrating on the buffalo trade, including hides, pemmican and tallow. He worked under contract for the Hudson's Bay Company for a short time before joining the Red River and Pembina Outfit in 1851, a coalition of free traders organized by Norman W. Kittson. Gingras
established his trading post and founded St. Joseph (now Walhalla) in 1843 along with a few other Métis families. During its peak in 1858, St. Joseph had a population of 1200. For two decades it was the center of the Métis culture of North Dakota and Minnesota and one of the major Métis centers on the North American continent.

    By the time of his death at age 56 in 1877, Gingras was a wealthy entrepreneur, with a chain of stores in Winnipeg, Pembina and St. Joseph, and a trading post near the Souris River. His business connections extended from Fort Garry in Winnipeg to St. Paul, Minnesota.

    The Gingras Day! schedule is subject to change. Located one and one-half miles northeast of Walhalla, the Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site is managed and maintained by the State Historical Society of North Dakota. The site preserves the home and trading post established by Antoine Gingras in the 1840s. His hand-hewn oak log store and home are among the few tangible remains of the fur trade in the Red River Valley of the North. Both buildings have been restored to their original appearance. For more information, contact the Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site at (701) 549-2775, the State Historical Society at (701) 328-2666 or visit the agency's web site at DiscoverND.com/hist .

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Gingras Day! 2002 Schedule
Saturday, August 10


    10 a.m. to 5 p.m.        Site open to the public

    11 a.m. to 4 p.m.        Demonstrations and activities, including
                    birch bark writing, basketweaving, hoop
                    and stick game for children, guided tours
                    of the Gingras Trading Post and Antoine
                    Gingras Home. People of all ages will also
                    be able to dress in period reproduced clothing
                    and handle items of the fur trade era.
   
    1 to 2 p.m.            Chippewa-Métis music by James LaRocque

    2 p.m.                History Alive! performance of Antoine Gingras
                    by Virgil Benoit

    3 to 4 p.m.             Chippewa-Métis music by James LaRocque
                   
   
   





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