06/27/2026
Folks,
Just wanted to thank everyone for another great job helping to plan, organize, and facilitate our 22nd annual Cook Forest French & Indian War Encampment on 6/13-14/26!
The weather was absolutely beautiful on Saturday. Had a little rain Sunday morning, but forecast was for heavy t-storms in the afternoon. We decided to call the PM tactical and dismiss early in hopes of getting the bulk of everyone out before it hit. Turned out Cook Forest got off easy, but other nearby towns, not so much. I was heading home northwest later that afternoon, and ran into a nasty t-storm just coming out of Titusville. Heavy winds, heavy rain, then heavy winds turning immediately 90 degrees to main path of storm with hail coming in sidewise on my passenger side, tree limbs down on the road & etc. Was thinking, thank God no one was at the site and that we made the right call.
Public attendance was excellent on Saturday, with over 1,100 attending the AM tactical. Rangers said 90% of parking was taken up, that is everything behind the pool building was full, and almost all of the field was full of vehicles.
Canāt thank everyone enough for the help. This event canāt be done by one person. So much goes into this, our largest event by far at the park, and to see it all come together, is humbling. From the Officerās planning, organizing, and delegating tasks up on the hill, to all the educational programs being offered throughout the weekend, to my āproā volunteers behind the scenes, to all the help with registration, to the local business donations, staff help, canāt even begin to name all the people, because I know Iāll forget someone.
It is also nice to see folks stepping up and plugging holes where needed. I often donāt notice all of them. Geoff was able to take a good amount off my plate in doing a lot of the behind the scenes work getting the harpsichord program together. Getting the sound and light system set-up in the theater without even knowing where everything was, was big. I didnāt even know how to operate that stuff, but now I do!
Another was Brian taking one of his men to the hospital in the AM before the Saturday battle who had an eye injury that definitely needed attention. I thought to myself, thereās just no way Brian will be back in time, and that Iād just narrate the battles that day, at least the morning one. He was able to find the hospital, coordinate everything with the reenactor and his wife, and get back in time to narrate as if nothing ever happened. āOne man down, next man up!ā seems to be our motto.
We had some new programs this year which were great additions. Addisen Noel and the Hickory Creek Dancers did a wonderful period dance program Saturday afternoon at the Sawmill Theater. Attendance for that program was excellent. I have to admit that I was thinking to myself that sheāll get lucky to have anyone from the public to actually do a dance at the end. I was wrong. She was able to convince ~24 to do the Virginia Reel on the deck of the theater, while she called the dance. Now THAT took a lot of patience. Great job, Addisen!
Another new program was Aaron Grabowskiās harpsichord performance Saturday night at the Sawmill Theater. It was incredible, and his harpsichord, a true piece of art. He also had a fellow violinist reenactor accompany him from time to time. Attendance was very good for a Saturday evening theater performance, attracting many reenactors, which hasnāt happened to that degree before. Great job, Aaron!
Mike was also back at it conducting the blanket trade again. Another nice touch to the event, that is not an easy thing to pull together. Most of you know that Mike does have the gift of gab, unlike me, which is a huge help. He was able to bring back the āBox of Mysteryā with a box donation from Alex Afremenko. Between the mystery box and public donations, we were able to bring in $201 this year, which will all go back into the coffers for the next event.
Thank you Mary, for handling the vast bulk of registration all day Friday and Saturday morning. I had several walk-ons late Saturday morning. Not sure if they found Larry at Brianās tent. Some were from Trentās company, but can think of ~8 that we sent up Saturday morning looking to register.
Public attendanceā¦ #ās were excellent on Saturday, and the usual good, but lower attendance on Sunday. Hereās the stats:
Physical bodies
SA 3,788
SU 1,499
5,287
Tactical #ās
AM PM
SA 1,133 558
SU 243 cancelled, t-storms
Again, canāt thank everyone enough for your support of this event, for sticking with us for so long, and making this the finest living history event in the entire PA State Park system.
Many thanks!!!
Dale
