MONROE — Many people love history. Trish Sullivan lives it.
Sullivan, 47, of Granite Falls, has been involved in historic re-enactment since her father got her into it when she was a little girl.
Historic re-enactment, also referred to as period trekking, is a popular hobby where participants recreate certain periods in history, from clothing and art to real-life battles. Different re-enactment groups call for varying degrees of accuracy.
Sullivan’s father is a part of Mountain Men, which is a traditional, black powder, muzzle-loading firearm club.
Over the weekend, the Cascade Mountain Men and other historic re-enactment groups from around the Pacific Northwest held their annual traditional gun and pioneer craft show at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. More than 300 traders set up tables with original and replica muzzle-loading guns, clothing and crafts from different periods.
Sullivan is the president of the Northwest Colonial Re-enactors Association, rooted mostly in the second part of the 18th century. Group members attend camping trips, seminars, workshops and trade shows.
Sullivan is helping organize a colonial encampment in July, where participants will have a chance to spend a few days living as they would have in the 18th century.
“It’s total immersion,” she said. “No cars, no cell phones.”
History re-enactment is like a separate world; it allows Sullivan to step back in time and forget about everything else for a while.
As a food services director for a school lunch program, Sullivan spends her days in business-style clothing. She said she feels more comfortable in colonial clothing, though. On Sunday, she wore a grey linen dress she made herself, dark-brown shoes with metal buckles, a white bonnet and a cameo pendant around her neck.
Steve Barton of Maple Falls also credits Sullivan’s father with getting him interested in historic re-enactment 25 years ago, when he showed Barton how to make a flintlock rifle. Now a devoted Mountain Man himself, Barton, 50, builds traditional rifles as a hobby. He camps in the woods with a wool blanket, a tarp and not much else. That’s how Mountain Men, the real-life explorers, did it here in the late 18th and early 19th century, he said.
Barton makes his own clothing and gear as well.
“We’re all history geeks here, excited about spoon molds,” Sullivan said.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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