One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes then out the door.

Five I'm alive, six, seven, eight feelin' great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good I'm doing fine.

Ten, Gonna do it right then do it again.

Yeah yeah.

I look up to the sky with all the beautiful color but, there's more than just for me so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let out, I want to sing and shout.

Take a look and see A beautiful morning that turns into beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want see, then come along with me.

That's right.

Welcome to experience Michiana on the show's producer, Kelsy Zumbrum Thank you so much for being with us.

As we get out and explore some of the activities and festivals that are happening this weekend in the Michiana area, we're going to head to Plymouth to find out about the Latino festival that's taking place this weekend, where there will be lots of authentic food and music, a lot of things going on there in Plymouth.

Then we're going to head to Nappanee to find out about the Apple Festival, which actually kicked off today and is going to go through the end of the weekend.

But first, Kelly is down in Rochester where she's finding out about the living History Festival called The Trail of Courage.

And you want to be sure to check this out, too, On September 17th and 18th, you can come with your family and experience the Fulton County Historical Society's Trail of Courage.

Now, Melinda, thank you so much for being with us today.

As you can see, we're on the grounds here now.

The grounds are right off of 31.

Yes, we're four miles north of Rochester on U.S. 31.

Okay.

So you may hear a little traffic passing by, but this is going to be a really fun event.

And it's called The Trail of Courage.

Now, Melinda, I've heard of the Trail of Tears.

What's the difference?

Our festival is called The Trail of Courage because of the courage of the Indians before they were removed from this area and what was called the Trail of death, which was a Potawatomi removal, which happened the same time as the Trail of Tears for the Cherokee.

And so we did the festival with the Trail of Courage to commemorate that time period.

Well, that's wonderful.

Now, this had started in 1976.

Yes.

1976, in a farm field, few little camps and whatever to grow into what it is today.

Of 100, 250 camps and programs and things that go on both days, all day long.

And and we usually have 13,000 plus people here for the weekend.

So.

What was the impetus to begin this kind of event?

Just to keep the history alive here for our county history.

The Potawatomi like I said, we're removed from this area in 1838.

We have families who come back each year that we tried to commemorate that were descended, taken away on the removal.

But we're trying to show the time period when they were all here together, working together.

Now, we as I said, we are on the grounds here.

How many acres are we on a museum on 35 acres were a mile long, 400 foot wide, right along U.S. 31.

And we purchased this property in 1985 and have done a lot of cleanup and and done different things to make it an improvement for the festivals.

And and we do different things all year long.

Now it is going to be a lot of fun for the families, but it's also important that we know the truth about this history.

Exactly.

Exactly.

We have school kids who come on Fridays.

Right now, our 600 plus kids and they come in and they'll have special places to go that people will be teaching.

We have historic arts, like blacksmithing and tents, smithing Peter Smith baskets, making things that are no longer on the forefront of everybody making these things.

But these people are still actually teaching.

We're wanting the fourth grade kids to understand the Indiana history.

They finally got a lot of this into the history books about the Potawatomi removal.

For years it was not there.

The programing from indian dances.

We have Aztec dancers who come.

We have programs Martin all over from Plymouth.

Come and do.

She plays fiddle and they do multiple instruments.

There are several different people like that.

There's bagpipers, fife and drum horse.

Wow.

So a lot of volunteers.

Well, part of these are covered by the Indiana Arts Commission, grant some of the programing and then volunteers then come in to do the local food booths.

We have 12 food supply of this year.

Everything's cooked over wood fires.

A lot of them are local nonprofits that are running these booths to help support different community projects.

So we support that, too.

That's great.

Now tell us a little bit more about the history.

So did The Trail of Tears come through this area?

The Trail of Tears did not.

But the Trail of Death did.

Like I said, the Pottawattamie, they started in Marshall County, but Chief Menominee statue rounded them up.

Chief Menominee included even though they took him in a jail wagon.

He had been to Washington and talked to the president at the time saying that, you know, you're not going to have to move.

And then like other Pottawattamie from Michigan area or whatever signed these treaties.

So they rounded everybody up and took him there to Osawatomie, Kansas, and there were 700 and some that went on the route.

Father Pettit from Notre Dame was a priest that went with them.

He died along the way and they brought him back.

And he's at Notre Dame underneath one of the cabins or somewhere up in there.

But there's a lot of that history that wouldn't have been known if it hadn't been for the festival like this to make people aware actually locally.

Now, you also honor a family each year.

Yes.

Can you share a little bit more about that?

We've done several different families this year.

Are honored family is the Bergeron I believe family name the young lady is coming from Washington state and she will also be our head Indian woman dancer here at the festival.

She has a relative whose name is George Godfrey, who is president of our local Pottawattamie Trailer, a death association.

He lives in Illinois, but he is a cousin or something somehow related.

And every five years they retrace this route.

Claire to Kansas and have been doing that since 1988.

So we've had his family.

We've had two amigos.

We've had Chief Menominee family.

We've had several of the people that we're actually on the actual removal.

That's why we had the honored families.

That's wonderful.

Now, I see here that you have done a wonderful job of taking us back in time.

Can you share what this is here?

Because it looks like kind of that American frontier and their families just kind of, you know, put up a tent.

Yes.

They would have had a tent put up.

They cook all the foods over wood fires, you know, the historic lamps, the historic tents.

Everybody would be dressed in historic outfit this weekend, taking you back.

So once you get past the admissions booth, it really is like stepping back in time.

Even though we do hear the road noise, you know, if you're in the mindset, you really don't hear it.

After so long.

You know, I've lived out here in long enough that I don't hear it anymore.

But but there's always a different feeling when you're back here with the festival and just the atmosphere of it is totally different.

Now you have a lot of tents.

You're going to have people coming and re re showing history.

How long does it take you to set this up?

We as a historic site start cleaning up, you know, about a month or so ago.

There are individual people bring in tents.

Sometimes it takes some couple hours to get all their setup set up.

Sometimes longer or sometimes shorter, depending the merchants, the ones in the big tents, you know, it takes them several hours because we have a gentleman who comes from Michigan that sells leather and and coonskin caps and furs and whatever that takes, they sell them.

Yes.

Oh, wow.

And then, like I said, the food booth vendors, you know, they're out here working two or three days ahead of time, getting ready and then getting the food prepared and and whatever.

So and while they're here doing all of that, they're also passing down storytelling and the history to to the families and the children that are here, right?

Yeah.

There's all kinds of history that's being taught, you know, so the kids sit and listen.

They're all learn something and they're fascinated with coming out to see all the different atmospheres and and, you know, from the French in any more time period, the Revolutionary War time period, the Native Americans being here, you know, it just is a big fan of people to learn from for the weekend.

You mentioned the Aztec dancers.

I love dancing.

Can you tell us a little bit more about them?

The Aztec dancers are different ones from northern Indiana and then Chicago area that come, they dress and these fanciful outfits and do dances both days on the stages.

And they also have booths where they sell stuff to.

But they started coming, I don't know, maybe ten years ago or better.

They're a big draw of people.

They get get, get going with the drums and stuff and it's, you know, it's something to draw people.

You know, the more more louder the music is, the better off you are.

Absolutely.

And then participate in the dances.

Yes.

And then, you know, we go from that to Indian dances, which is a little bit different.

You know, they have the honored families, people and the head dancers.

And then other people can join in the intertribal dances.

So that means the public can get out there and help dance.

The drum isn't actually all women drum that they playing.

And so we have them every afternoon from 2 to 3.

And then we have animal rehabilitation people who come and give programs on Saturday.

Kim Hoover from Star City, her business is called Who's to House and she rehabs all kinds of different animals and then soaring hawk out of Fort Wayne will be here on Sunday.

And they also do a lot of different animals.

So that is fantastic.

So it's September 17th and 18th.

What are the hours?

Saturdays tend to six.

Sunday is 10 to 4.

Admission is $8 for adults and $3 for kids ages 6 to 11, five and under free.

And now, with parking on the grounds.

Yes, we have a big field here and we have tractors that will give you a ride down because the property is a mile long.

So you're going to want to ride and those are free and we invite you to come.

And we do not allow animals unless they're service animals.

And so that's a big thing to know.

And unfortunately, we don't have an ATM here, so I'll be sure in my cash That's right.

And you know, it's a good thing you said that because I feel like people just don't carry cash.

they do not.

Melinda, this is a huge endeavor.

And so why does the historical society decide to put this event on?

And also, what are some of the other events they participate in?

This is one of the biggest events that the museum does for for the year, our biggest fundraiser.

We are not county funded.

So everything that we do here at the museum helps to support.

We have a building and then a round barn and a living history village and to support besides, you know, just having these festivals we do Redbud in the spring we have a tractor show in June and then the trail occurs in September and we do a Haunted Woods next month in October.

So we'll have to come back for that one.

Yes.

And anyway, it all just goes to support and our mission is to teach history.

And that's how we keep history alive by doing these festivals and as part of our mission.

Now, I have to ask this last question.

Rain or shine, what's going to happen if rain or shine?

We go on.

A lot of times at trail, we usually don't have as much rain out of the 46 years that we've been existence.

We've had rain four or five times on on this actual weekend.

We have another festival in the spring called the Redbud and it receives the rain every year.

Oh gosh.

So, you know, but there's a difference in time periods and weather.

So this weekend sounds like it's going to be nice.

So hopefully it will stay that way.

I hope so.

Melinda, thank you so much.

And thank you for all that you do to, you know, to share and retain the history.

It's so important.

So come on out September 17th and 18th.

Bring the family.

You all are going to really enjoy the experience of history, lots of food and lots of fun.

Today we are checking out a awesome thing that's happening in the community here in Plymouth, Indiana.

The Plymouth Latino Festival and I have with the Laura who's going to share with us a bit about what this event is.

This isn't the first year this has happened here in Plymouth either.

No, this isn't.

This is kind of an event that was huge in Plymouth.

And then it went away for about seven years.

And then six years ago, we brought it back.

So due to COVID, this is our fifth event done by the city of Plymouth before a group called Heart and Hands.

They were in charge of the Latino Festival, and it was a great event.

It was in our amphitheater and then heart and hands dissolved and the festival went away.

And six years ago, the mayor was like, We need to bring that back.

And so we brought it back and brought it to River Park Square, which is our downtown park.

And that's where it's happening this year, too.

That's right.

Okay.

So we love that park.

It's lots of green space and it's just perfect for a festival.

And it's coming up this weekend.

It is.

It's this Saturday starts at 1:00 and it runs until 10 p.m.. Oh, wow.

That's a great festival timeframe.

I love when it's extended like that.

It's not limited to just a couple of hours.

We need to be done at ten so we can be all cleaned up and quiet again at 11 so we don't get in trouble.

So so the city doesn't get in trouble with the city.

That's right.

That's right.

I love it.

I love it.

So what kinds of things is there for people to do at the festival?

I think the number one thing that people come to Latino Festival for is the authentic food from all the different Hispanic regions.

We have all kinds of different offerings.

One year I made it my mission to try everything.

I love that.

And I had some things that I loved and I had some things that were like, I don't need to eat that again.

Okay.

That's the fun part about this festival is it's authentic.

There's not it's not like a food truck kind of food.

It's more authentic.

Grandma is down there making their best.

And so it's always very good to be able to try different things.

So do you have local vendors who are participating?

We do.

All the vendors are local and so they just this sometimes this is the only time that they sell food, really know they work with the Health department.

You want to get abuela's arepas that's the time to get it.

That's right.

That's right.

They work with our local health department and they so that they're doing everything that they need to do.

And they sell some great stuff.

That's awesome.

So aside from food, which of course come hungry, it sounds like.

Yes, for sure.

What else is there to do for families?

There will also be music.

Also the folkloric dancers, which is the girls with the big skirts.

There's little girls all the way up to adults that perform.

And that's always very cool to watch.

I bet.

And do they have certain times are performing?

They will be performing right.

Right off the bat from 2 to 3.

So if you want to get here early and watch that, we'll also have a marketplace area with things for sale.

And there will also be the hospital will be here and also a doctor's office will be here taking blood pressures and screening blood sugars because diabetes and high blood pressure really tend to be in that Hispanic culture community.

And so we want to be able to screen for those things.

So those will be at no cost.

The whole festival is at no cost except for the food.

If you want to buy food, you'll need to pay for it yourself.

But other than that, it's all free for the offering.

And you guys have things happening for the kids, too, right?

We do.

There will be bounce houses.

There will be face painting, all kinds of great stuff.

That's awesome.

I know my kids love that kind of stuff.

So anything that they can do to stay active and of course, you have the entertainment that's going to be happening too, but really the whole basis for the Latino festival.

Why is it important to this community?

This community has a very rich Hispanic culture that goes back many years.

We were a community that had a lot of migrant workers that came from Texas just for agricultural reasons, and then they would go back home.

Well, they decided that they liked Plymouth so much that they stayed.

The city of Plymouth is 28% Hispanic in our population.

And so we really want to focus on that culture, learn about that culture, because it is rich and very interesting.

Absolutely.

And I believe this is Hispanic Heritage Month, too.

It is.

So do you have other events happening across the community as well?

This is all that we have.

Okay, that's great.

I love that you have an event that's really focused on that.

Why is it important to the city to host that?

I think that we just want to be inclusive.

We don't want anybody to think that, well, you don't belong here.

Everybody belongs in Plymouth.

We love our community and we it's a big family.

And they think this is just part of showing that to everyone.

And I think for me, I grew up in the Detroit area, which was very culturized.

And I think coming to an event like this for our entire community is really important for them, too.

Exactly.

I had someone tell me the other day that, oh, well, I'm not Hispanic, so I didn't think I could come.

And that is not the case.

Exactly.

Everyone is welcome at this event.

And I love that you said it an opportunity to kind of try new things, maybe see something or experience something that you haven't done before, which is all what we do here and experience michiana too.

Right.

Right, right.

So we appreciate that you kind of put a focus on this and hope everybody comes down and has a good time.

That's awesome.

Where can people get more information and all the details?

They can go to the city of Plymouth Mayor's Facebook page.

There is an event there and or they can just search Latino Festival 2022.

And there's also an event.

That's awesome.

Well, I'm glad that you guys are bringing this back again.

Obviously, you took a break for the COVID timeframe.

We did.

Okay.

But it's coming back and going to be better than ever, right.

Yes.

And do you have any opportunity still for any vendors to still sign up?

Do you still need volunteers?

We could use some volunteers.

If someone is interested, they can call me here at the mayor's office and we can get that taken care of.

Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much for sharing all of that with us.

I hope that you can join the Latina festival here happening in Plymouth, happening this Saturday.

Yes, that's going to be so much.

It starts at 1:00 until ten.

All right.

We'll see you there.

Right now, I'm joined by Donna, who is part of the Nappanee Apple Festival or as I like to call it, the Napa Festival, Napa.

But I messed it up.

I totally messed it up.

Donna, I I'd like to add Nappanee and Apple together into one word.

It's okay.

We call it the Nappanee Apple Festival.

That's what I call it, the Napple Store.

Okay.

I was there last year for the first time ever and the the atmosphere was absolutely electric.

It was great to see Nappanee like that.

Yeah, we brought in a lot of people last year.

People enjoyed coming out and getting, you know, being shut in for a year and a half.

They really enjoyed coming out.

We had we had a great time and we had great weather.

So it is more than just apples, you know, and it's a huge festival.

And for people watching who may not know anything about the Nappanee Apple Festival, just give us an overview of what goes on.

We're most famous for our seven foot apple pie that will be baked, started on Thursday and will come out of the oven on Friday morning at 730 and then we'll start serving it at 11:00 in the morning.

But we have great entertainment on three stages.

Our wow factor this year is flipping out and it's an extreme trampoline show that will be in the library parking lot.

They'll do eight shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but also in the library parking lot.

We will have Silly Safari and Grandpa Cratchit.

So we've made that a whole kids zone area.

We have a north stage at North Clark Street where we have a variety of entertainment, and then the main stage in the Depot Plaza, which will have entertainment all weekend.

And you mentioned all of this.

When did the Nappanee Apple Festival start?

Because it's been going on a long time.

Right.

This is our 46th year and it started in 1975.

I'm actually sitting in front of Miller's Orchard and they are part of the founders that got the festival going.

They have the orchard out back now.

The old orchards been all taken down and they're in the process of replanting a whole new orchard.

And so they are they are part of have continued over the 46 years to be part of the Apple Festival.

It used to be just one block just on South Main Street, and it's grown to where it covers four square blocks.

And on the streets in the parking lots and when is it actually taking place?

The festival opens up on Thursday at 5:00 and close.

That closes at nine.

On Thursday, we have the Queen's Scholarship Pageant that happens on Thursday night.

Then we open up again Friday morning at 10 a.m. until nine.

The craft and food vendors are open till nine Entertainment's running to 930, 10:00.

Then we open up at 10 to 10 on Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sunday.

What would you say to anybody watching?

Because obviously we've got viewers in Michigan, we've got viewers in South Bend and Elkhart and and a lot of people, again, may not have ever been to Nappanee.

What would you say to them in terms of like why should they go along besides all the entertainment?

What's the atmosphere of the town like?

Everybody's very open.

The shops, the stores downtown, stay open longer.

We've got a great ride company Midway Entertainment is the ride company.

Same one that we have at the 4H Fair.

Elkhart County.

4H fair, come and see the pie.

We have a an Napple store, as we call it.

Sells everything.

Apple sells this Nappanee Apple Festival T-shirt sells all kinds of clothes, t shirts, sweatshirts, hats, memorabilia.

But we have a great parade that happens on Saturday morning, brings in thousands of thousands of people.

But we have a lot of entertainment.

We have a great variety of exhibitors and food trailers.

It's just a real fun, welcoming atmosphere.

Yeah, as somebody who was born in a different country when when I visit Nappanee, I feel like it's kind of what I imagined, kind of small town, wholesome America to be.

Yes, it is.

This is this community is their slogan is Embrace the pace.

And it's kind of a slowed down community.

It's it's pretty it's pretty quiet, but we're real lively on the weekends, especially at our sporting events.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

And I know it doesn't look like it's still technically Summer behind you.

And I look up at the sky there, but the weather looks like it's going to be really nice as well.

But this really is a great way to kind of kick off all those fall activities.

Yes.

Yeah.

And we're going to have great, super great weather.

It's going to be sunny, two of the days, partly cloudy two of the days in the eighties.

So no worry about rain.

Thank you, Lord.

We've gotten the rain.

We needed the rain.

Our farmers really needed the rain.

And now we have that and we're going to have a beautiful weekend.

Absolutely.

And if people want to get more information about it online, where can they go?

Nappanee, Apple, they can go to the Nappanee Apple Festival website and you can see everything that's going on.

It'll have a updated shuttle information.

We have shuttles.

You can park out at the barns and we'll shuttle you in on the short school busses provided by Northwood High School, one of community schools.

And we have shuttles if you park at Nappanee Elementary, we have a Saint Jude shuttle that's running at out of the airport on Saturday.

We'll run shuttles because we have wings and we'll show we have a flyover at 1030.

Then EAA is giving free flights to kids from 8 to 17 that have never flown before.

We also have helicopter rides available, so there's lots of places you can park and there's things going on.

And even at the barns Power food passes is having a garden tractor pull and an antique tractor pull.

Nice.

So there really is so much going on.

I know that a lot of volunteers put in a lot of work over the year to make it happen.

I know as soon as it's finished you probably take about five days off and then go at it again for the next year.

So the core committee, yes, they may start writing again on it in October.

All right.

Well, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

I don't see why you won't.

And thank you for all the effort that you put in.

We got to get people out and about.

It's part of what we're doing on this show.

You know, I know COVID kept a lot of people at home, but including myself, we're all guilty of we all got a little bit lazier, I think.

So we need to get people out and about and enjoy the beautiful city of Nappanee.

Ah, I like to call it a town, but yeah, I really hope that you have a great weekend.

I hope people go along.

Thank you very much.

Come on out.

We will be happy to serve you.

That's it for today.

So thank you so much for being with us.

We love getting out and exploring Michiana and we hope that you do, too.

And remember, while you're out, take a picture post about it.

Use the hashtag Experienced Michiana so we know what your Michiana is like and maybe we can share it here on the show, too.

Well, have a great weekend, everybody.

And until next time, we'll see you.

experience Machiana is made possible in par by the Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the state of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.