GARRISON, N.D. (AP) - Larry and Linda Hippen, of Mandan, and Dale and Ann Marks, of Ypsilanti, re-enact early day life when they take part in Frontier Military Days at Fort Stevenson State Park, south of Garrison. The two couples have been attending the annual event for about two decades.
This year is the 23rd year for the event, said Dick Messerly, Garrison, who is with the Fort Stevenson Foundation.
“It’s a lot of years,” said Larry Hippen, referring to the number of years they have been at Frontier Military Days.
“I demonstrate candle-making,” explained Linda Hippen. Her husband, Larry, demonstrates tomahawk throwing.
The Hippens are charter members of the 415th Fort McKeen Detachment, Old Scout Society, a group they joined in the 1980s, the Minot Daily News (https://bit.ly/1LDlf3c ) reported.
Linda Hippen said they got involved in military reenactments and fur trade enactments through another couple who they became friends with in Mandan. She said the other man was a descendant of one of George Armstrong Custer’s scouts and started the Fort McKeen, Old Scout Society.
The Hippens were asked to take part in an event at Fort Sisseton, South Dakota. After that, they really got involved. “That was on the military side the Indian Wars period and then later on we got involved in the fur trade era as well.
“It’s been a lot of fun and we’ve met a lot of nice people. We’ve made friends with many people who have just come to visit and made friends with re-enactors who also participate in doing these kinds of things,” Linda Hippen said.
Dale and Ann Marks are members of the 20th Infantry Regiment, Fort Seward, Dakota Territory, at Jamestown.
“I’m the cannoneer,” he said. He does the 20th Infantry’s cannon demonstration. Two other re-enactors at Military Frontier Days will assist him for the cannon demonstrations over the weekend.
Dale Marks also does a gun demonstration. “I didn’t bring my long guns this year. I just brought pistols,” he said. “This is the genius of Samuel Colt (the American inventor),” he said, showing one of the pistols. He said on Saturday morning that was one of the pistols he was going to be talking about to visitors.
Ann Marks, who is originally from Carpio, demonstrates cooking baking pies and sourdough bread in a Dutch oven over a fire. Their granddaughter, Chloe Smith, also of Ypsilanti, is assisting her grandmother with the cooking this weekend.
Dale Marks said they got involved in reenactments back in 1986 at a centennial celebration when they attended a military ball in Jamestown. There he talked to a man who was starting the 20th Infantry Regiment. “We became members of the 20th Infantry and have been historically re-enacting ever since,” he said. He said when their children were growing up they were also involved in historical re-enacting.
Why do they like historical re-enacting? “We like Indian War history,” he said.
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Information from: Minot Daily News, https://www.minotdailynews.com
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