Early Days annual event brings history to life in SJB
Few places in California have as diverse a history as San
Juan
– a small, sleepy town full of stories about Native Americans,
vaqueros, gold miners, Spanish soldiers, mission padres and early
settlers. To history lovers, San Juan has it all.
Early Days annual event brings history to life in SJB
Few places in California have as diverse a history as San Juan – a small, sleepy town full of stories about Native Americans, vaqueros, gold miners, Spanish soldiers, mission padres and early settlers. To history lovers, San Juan has it all.
Early Days, an annual celebration hosted each June by the San Juan Bautista State Historic Park, brings all of the town’s different periods of history together. Docents and volunteers come dressed as pioneers, mountain men, trappers, cowboys and even saloon dancers, showing off their period clothing as well as cooking utensils, looms, guns, traps, panning equipment and even a fully stocked covered wagon.
“What grabs me the most is the absolute passion of those who have embodied the age of the people they portray,” said attendee Nikki Gillette, who spent the day checking out the various displays with friend Constance Segel. “They have spent so much time learning about the time in detail. I learned that they used three-legged tables because four-legged ones were too wobbly, and I learned how to gut, skin and tan an animal. I think I could probably do it now.”
Now in its 25th year, Early Days provides its guests with the opportunity to actually see California history rather than just read about it, said Nikki Combs, park interpreter for the State Historic Park.
“We can showcase facets of history from the late 1830s to the 1900s, and you really can’t get that in one compact area anywhere else,” Combs said. “Add the mission into it, which goes back to the 1700s, and you’re talking about seeing a 200-year long span of history in a five block area.”
Set up on the grassy field of the plaza in front of Mission San Juan Bautista were approximately a dozen tents, or encampments. At one, a woman dressed in period clothing baked gingersnaps and made tortillas in a beehive oven. At another, a gold miner showed interested people how to pan for gold. And at a third, trapper Jack Northern talked about a number of subjects, from how to skin and tan animal hides to the coonskin cap perched on his head that he made himself.
“I was a trapper up to a few years ago when I had a stroke and lost one of my eyes,” said Northern, as he fingered a leather talisman that hung around his neck. The talisman, a good luck charm Northern said he has dipped into “as many lakes in Canada as I could get to,” contains an interesting array of items, including a “bit of my buddy’s finger.”
“A lot of my friends that I used to come out with are gone now,” Northern continued. “But I still keep coming out to meet people and hang out with my friends. If I can get a ride, I’ll go.”
The park itself includes four main historic structures built in the 1800s, and tours of these structures were part of the Early Days celebration. One such structure is the Plaza Hotel, which is now a museum of items from the 1870-80s eras, Combs said, and where visitors can see hotel rooms, the dining room and parlor. Other structures include the Plaza Hall, where sarsaparilla and root beer was being served, the Plaza Stables, which houses one of the largest collection of carriages and wagons in the state, and the Castro-Breen Adobe, originally the home of General Jose Castro and later purchased by Patrick Breen, a survivor of the Donner Party who turned the home into a hotel for gold miners.
In front of the buildings were additional displays, showcasing various cooking utensils as well as some of the foods eaten by early pioneers and settlers.
“This makes history come alive for us,” said Jo Cobb, an Oregon resident who had come to visit the mission. “This is very pleasant; I didn’t expect this. I really enjoyed listening to the stories. They were fascinating. It was kind of a time-traveling experience.”
One of the highlights of the event was a covered wagon, built by Morgan Hill resident Bruce Horttor. Horttor, along with his wife, Carol Verbeeck, have been regulars at the Early Days event since the late 1980s.
“We’ve been volunteering for a while now,” Carol said. “I have pictures of us when we are younger, thinner and a lot less gray. At earlier events we used to pull an actual buckboard with our draft horse and give rides to the public.”
Kids attending Early Days this year were allowed to purchase a sticker book. After visiting a tent, kids were given a sticker, and once completed, the books were worth a free root beer at the Plaza Hall. Verbeeck had kids complete a scavenger hunt throughout her covered wagon in order to earn a sticker.
“I was looking for a bunch of stuff they used in the old days,” Cindy Prickett, 8, said. “I found cleaning stuff and a wool blanket and bed coverings made from different kinds of clothes. It was cool. I saw chairs that were made out of just two pieces of wood, but they were really comfy.”
Coinciding with Early Days were two other events – the rededication of the local section of the Anza Trail, a trail formed by Juan Bautista de Anza that originally ran from the Port of San Francisco to Culiacan, Mexico, and a Victorian Ball, hosted by the Plaza History Association. The ball was held in the Zanetta House, the Victorian home of hotel owner Angelo Zanetta and the site where scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” were filmed.
Smaller Early Day events are held on the first Saturday of each month, and Combs said there are openings for volunteers interested in participating.
“We are always looking for people to come and play with us,” she said. “You get such a wonderful sense of community, and it’s a chance to share things and talents that not many people know about. It’s like dressing up for Halloween every month.”
