Fort Frederick State Park to Host Annual 18th Century Market Fair April 21-24

18th Century Market Fair Comes to Life at Washington County, Maryland's Fort Frederick State Park, located in Western Maryland. Thousands expected to 11th Annual Event. Authentic encampment, military demonstrations, living history, and more!

(PRWEB) April 17, 2005 -- The Maryland Park Service and the Friends of Fort Frederick State Park will host the 11th Annual 18th Century Market Fair at Fort Frederick State Park April 21 through 24. Admission is $4 per person; children 12 and under are free.

Times for the Market Fair are:
Thursday, April 21, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday, April 22, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 23, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday, April 24, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visitors to Fort Frederick State Park will meet more than 150 talented artisans, craftspeople and vendors who sell reproductions of 18th-century items, including furniture, clothing, guns, powder horns and hunting bags. Most of the goods for sale are handmade by the vendors themselves, and many of these individuals will demonstrate their crafts.

"We are highlighting what the fort would have been like between 1730 and 1790," said Steve Robertson, Fort Frederick State Park Historian. "These were the first sixty years that settlers inhabited the area and so the encampment will have very exciting and energetic feeling of what was then a new venture."

To give this event the flair of an 18th-century fair, there will be magic shows, puppet shows, music and balancing acts that were popular diversions of the time. Add to this an encampment of 18th-century reenactors who will conduct live firing demonstrations of period weapons as well as demonstrations of 18th-century life in the fort amidst a 1730-90 encampment. Interpreters will present continuous living history programs within the historic fort walls.

Fort Frederick State Park is located in Washington County near Clear Spring and Big Pool, and is the home of Fort Frederick, Maryland's premier stone fort. It was built by the Colony of Maryland in 1756 to protect its western boundaries and as a base to attack French claims to the Ohio River Valley. In 1922, the fort became the FIRST State Park in Maryland. Currently Fort Frederick is an educational center for the study of the French and Indian War.

Historians say that Fort Frederick is the only remaining original French and Indian War stone fort in the United States. According to Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Tom Riford, "This will be an exciting four day event at Fort Frederick. To see this authentic 18th Century Market Fair will be a treat for the whole family." Fort Frederick has been called "Maryland's First Homeland Security."

Fort Frederick was refurbished during the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the park houses a CCC Museum. Additionally, the park is on the C&O Canal and Towpath, and has its own picnic and camping areas, along with wonderful views of the Potomac River.

For more information about this event, contact the park at (301) 842-2155, or visit http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/fortfrederick.html.

11th Annual 18th Century Market Fair Schedule of Events:
Thursday, April 21
Visit the sutlers and view the fort.
Friday, April 22

Visit the sutlers and view the fort. Faire Wynds will play periodically throughout the day. Check at their tent for times.

12:00 Firearms, accouterments, and equipment of the 18th Century At the firing range. Using live firing demonstrations, this program will compare and contrast various firearms of the 1700s.

Saturday, April 23
10:00 Military Drill and Musket Firing Demonstration Inside the fort.
10:30 Signora Bella
11:00 Faire Wynds
12:00 Firearms, accouterments, and equipment of the 18th Century At the firing range. Using live firing demonstrations, this program will compare and contrast various firearms of the 1700s.
1:00 Military Drill and Musket Firing Demonstration Inside the fort.
2:00 Signora Bella
2:30 Faire Wynds
3:00 Signora Bella
3:30 Faire Wynds
4:00 Military Drill and Musket Firing Demonstration Inside the fort.

Sunday, April 24
10:00 Military Drill and Musket Firing Demonstration Inside the fort.
10:30 Faire Wynds
11:00 Signora Bella
11:30 Faire Wynds
12:00 Military Drill and Musket Firing Demonstration Inside the fort.
1:00 Signora Bella
1:30 Faire Wynds
2:00 Signora Bella
2:30 Military Drill and Musket Firing Demonstration Inside the fort.

Directions: Fort Frederick State Park is located in the Cumberland Valley, 18 miles west of Hagerstown and one mile south of I-70 near Big Pool (Route 56, Exit 12). The park is 88 miles from Baltimore and 81 miles from Washington.

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Fort Frederick State Park is a member of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is assisting in sponsoring the event.