It’s official: Crossroad Rendezvous to return

The Crossroads Rendezvous will be back at Peninsula Park in Saukville this May after a 12-year hiatus. 

“The only way we were able to put this together in short time was because of the brand recognition of the event,” organizer Mary Boyle said. “It has a lot of notoriety in the re-enacting world.”

The Crossroads Rendezvous ran from 1991 to 2006 but ceased after the previous organizers stepped down. 

Last year, Boyle and Sara Dahmen, two historical re-enactors from Port Washington, decided it was time to resurrect the event.

The organizers were seeking $10,000 in donations to run the event but said they will now make do with a $6,200 budget. A large source of funding came from the Saukville Chamber of Commerce, which awarded a $5,000 tourism grant.

“We were hoping to make an official announcement in February, but we didn’t find out about the grant until a couple of weeks into March,” Boyle said. “We decided that was enough because we felt confident that we could fundraise the rest.”

Because of the tight budget, the event won’t be as large as it was in the past. 

“It’s going to be small because it’s our first-year event,” Boyle said. “We are going for quality over quantity. Our focus is on education and not being a circus.”

One of the staples that will be missing from the event is a large beer tent.

“It would have been a nice addition, but it’s not essential,” Boyle said. “We hoped to have the tent in case of bad weather for people to gather under, and for the re-enactors  to meet in the evening as a group for music and dancing.”

Last week, the Saukville Village Board approved a park-use agreement for the Saukville Historical Society to host the event at the park  from May 18 through May 20. 

Boyle expects to have at least 100 re-enactors consisting of voyagers, merchants and soldiers who will relive the Wisconsin fur trade from 1750 to 1820. 

“It’s a timeline event, so there will be people representing different parts of our history,” Boyle said, noting there will also be military groups from different time periods that involve colonists, French and British groups.

“The French and Indian War will be the main highlight because that had the most impact in Wisconsin, but we’ll also have representatives from the Revolutionary War and even the War of 1812.”

She said the military groups will provide tactical demonstrations, including musket and cannon firing. 

“Our ultimate goal is to have enough troops to re-enact a battle, but that all depends if we have enough re-enactors to pull it off,” Boyle said.

The main focus of this year’s event will be educating youngsters about Wisconsin’s early history.

The first day of the event will have fourth-grade students from Saukville Elementary School and homeschooled students take a field trip from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“The groups that we’re gearing toward are fourth-grade classes because that’s usually when they learn about Wisconsin history,” Boyle said, noting some of the things they will learn about involve 18th-century toys, blacksmithing and using an inkle loom to weave.

“It’s a living history. As the students go around to the different re-enactors, they will learn new lessons and trades from that time period and what people wore and ate,” Boyle said. 

She said the first day is also open to the public but expects most people to attend during the weekend. Throughout the event, there will shuttle-bus transportation between U-Haul Moving & Storage on Highway 33 and the park because there is no on-site parking.

For more information, visit crossroadsrendezvous.org or its Facebook page at CrossroadsRendezvous.

Anyone interested in donating to the event should contact Boyle at info@crossroadsrendezous.org.