The Old Iron Works Festival returned to Maramec Spring Park for its 47th year on Oct. 10 to beautiful fall weather, drawing hundreds of visitors.

The festival celebrates the history and heritage of the Meramec Iron Works, which was founded in 1826, just five years after Missouri attained statehood. The Iron Works remained in operation for 50 years before closing in 1876. During its half-century tenure, the Iron Works processed 375,000 tons of ore. In 1938, Lucy Wortham James, who owned the Iron Works, incorporated her estate into a trust and authorized the establishment of The James Foundation, which preserves and operates the Maramec Spring Park to this day.

Two hundred years after the Meramec Iron Works was founded, guests at the festival were able to take a step back in time and visit vendors, artisans, performers and craftsmen that harkened back to 18th century craftsmanship, arts and culture.

Many of the craftsmen at the Old Iron Works Festival are in the business of preserving endangered art forms and educating visitors on regional handicrafts of the past.

Patty Frisbee is one such artist. Frisbee is a St. James-based artist who has been creating corn husk dolls for 45 years – nearly as long as the Old Iron Works Festival has been around.

Corn husk dolls are made by dyeing, folding, and tying off corn husks, attaching them to an acorn head and making a type of doll that have been the playthings of kids in the Ozarks for centuries.

Frisbee’s own grandmother used to make the dolls for her when she was young, which is where Frisbee herself learned the art – an artform which is rooted in Native American tradition.

“My grandmother taught me when I was about 10 years old,” Frisbee said. Later, Frisbee rediscovered her love for making corn husk dolls when her son’s school needed demonstrators. Frisbee has been making the dolls ever since.

Members of the Missouri Trappers Association (MTA) were also present at the festival to discuss the art of animal trapping with visitors and show off furs from traditionally trapped local wildlife.

Troy Crooks, a member of the MTA, said that trapping is becoming a lost art, but was historically a vital form of trade in the Ozarks.

“More and more of the younger generation haven’t been taught” outdoorsmanship skills like trapping, said Crooks, who added that he encourages people to “do anything you can” to get their kids to spend time out of doors.

Ron Burke, a member of the Francis J. Wilhelmi Camp #17 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, displayed reproductions of Civil War-era clothing, gear and weaponry and educated visitors on the history of the Civil War in the Ozarks. Visitors were able to wear and handle period-accurate military issue clothing and weapons.

Other traditional crafts and wares at the festival included kettle corn making, handmade cedar crafts, stilt-walking, quilt making and blacksmithing demonstrations.

While many of the festival offerings dated back to 19th century customs and culture, the Old Iron Works Festival also offered plenty of treats for modern tastes. Local businesses like the Prairie Barn Winery, St. James Winery, Public House Brewing Company and Muddy Boots Coffee Co. provided festivalgoers with refreshments as midday temperatures rose. Volunteers with the St. James Sports Club, including St. James Mayor Rick Krawiecki and Parks and Recreation Director Kristy Rich, manned the grill at the organization’s food stand, serving hot dogs and hamburgers to hungry festivalgoers.

Performers at two stages also treated festivalgoers to traditional music, dance, and variety show performances.

The festival’s Furnace Stage showcased both local talent demonstrations and performances from the Rock Country Cloggers – a dance troupe that specialized in clogging, an American folk dance where dancers use their feet as percussive instruments to stamp in time with music.

The festival’s main stage featured performances from bluegrass and folk bands Dixie Union, One Way Traffic and Barnum Jack, who played a wide variety of classic bluegrass standards and contemporary folk tunes.

Professor Farquar and Polecat Annie, a husband and wife duo, also took to the Main Stage to perform a mesmerizing variety show that served as a throwback to the traveling medicine shows of the 19th century. Professor Farquar and Polecat Annie’s repertoire included banjo music, puppetry and magic tricks.

Polecat Annie operated a “free play” wagon full of games and toys with histories as far back as the Renaissance.

Polecat Annie said that games like the ones found in the “free play” wagon were used by families in the 19th century to train eye-hand coordination, exercise, or to simply pass the time. She added that often, such games were made by hand from whatever trash or discarded items that families could get their hands on.

Professor Farquar has been performing the medicine show routine for nearly 40 years with “music and magic performed with unparalleled mediocrity. If you don’t expect too much you won’t be disappointed.”

The faces of children wide with disbelief at Professor Farquar’s magic tricks, amid a packed crowd seated on hay bales watching he and Polecat Annie perform would indicate that visitors to the Old Iron Works Festival didn’t leave disappointed.