Episode 7:

Marching Back in Time

The thunder of musket fire. The lilt of a fiddle. The rattle of a drum. The crackle of a campfire. These are the sounds you’ll hear at the annual Fort Sisseton Historical Festival, a one-of-a-kind celebration of 19th-century military life on the frontier. But we’re not just here to watch. We’re in it!

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Join us as we march back in time to 1864 at Fort Sisseton Historic State Park, where a loyal group of cavalry, artillery and infantry reenactors come together and bring the camp to life for one weekend every year. Listen as we take part in marching drills (and then perform them in front of a big crowd), join some old-timers from the cavalry regiment for tales around a blazing fire, sleep in the haunted military hospital and step on a few toes at the Military Ball.

You’ll hear from:

Ali Tonsfeldt of Fort Sisseton Historic State Park
Captain Bruce Bekkering and Amy from the Cavalry troop
Captain Kevin Ganz and the rest of the 13th Sioux Falls regiment

available on Spotify, Apple and Amazon

This is our second home. My kids were raised here. We’ve got people that you see every year, so it’s more than a destination — it’s family. For city folks, it’s the only time they can ride in a wagon drawn by horses, and it’s free. You can’t find that anywhere else.

Charles Russell, festival attendee

Check out the trailer now!

Fort Sisseton Historical Festival

Each spring, Fort Sisseton Historic State Park comes alive with military demonstrations, period-accurate food and music, dancing and more. Relive the fort’s heyday for a weekend filled with history, revelry and camaraderie.