Katy Texas Folk Life Festival
Katy kid, Mitchell, throws a mean lasso at the Katy Folk Life Festival |
Katyites of All Ages Are Invited to Step Back in Time
© Katy Magazine - Katy, Texas 2006
March 01, 2006
By Cathy Berner
Have you ever wondered what life was like for the early pioneers of Texas? How did they dress? Where did the children go to school? These questions and many more are answered each spring at the Katy Folk Life Festival, held
at the Katy ISD Outdoor Learning Center (OLC).
Festival Origins
Kenneth Welch, the first instructor officer for the OLC and its namesake, started the folk life festival in 1985 as a way to commemorate the Texas Independence Sesquicentennial (150 years since Texas’s independence from Mexico in
1836). According to Ray Wolman, the current instructional officer, Welch also founded the Cane Island Volunteers, a historical reenactment group. The original Cane Island Volunteers were a group of men from the Katy area (which
was called Cane Island at that time) who fought in the war for Texas’s independence.
Hands-on Family Fun
The most popular activities at the festival are the hands-on activities. Festival attendees can take part in activities ranging from weaving to gourd painting. Wolman ranks corn shucking, shelling and grinding, tin punching, corn
husk doll making and calligraphy in the pioneer school house as the top four activities.
Live Action Demonstrations
Last year, more than 2,600 people learned about historical Texas by watching presentations on everything from blacksmithing and beekeeping to pioneer cooking and a Texas cowboy camp. The presenters are volunteers, mainly from
Katy, Houston and surrounding areas.
Katy Folk Life Festival Snapshot
When
Saturday, April 1 from 9:00 – 5:00
Where
The Outdoor Learning Center, located west of the Katy ISD Administrative Building at 6301 South Stadium Lane.
Admission
$1.00 per person
Activities
Includes both presentations (blacksmithing, bee-keeping and soldier reenactments, among others) and hands-on activities (such as corn grinding, calligraphy and tin punching). Visitors can also walk the nature trails
and visit the duck ponds.
Contact
Visit www.katyisd.org/curriculum/outdoor.htm
or call 281-396-2460 for more information.
Cathy Bernier is a Katy-based freelance writer and a mother of two children.
Submit your Katy news to editor@katymagazine.com.
