Naturalists from the Sarett Nature Center, Benton Harbor, will be in Edwardsburg Sat., Sept. 27, to give the public rides on Pleasant Lake in its 35-foot voyageur canoe as part of the Sauk Trail Festival at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum. The canoe holds up to 19 people, representing years of water travel. The canoes were used extensively for the fur trade from the 1600s until about 1870, when the French-Canadian voyageurs were trading with the Native Americans. A naturalist will be in the front of the canoe with a steersman in the back and riders help paddle. Rides are open to any age according to a nature center spokesperson, but young children must be accompanied by adults. Life jackets will be provided. Rides will last from 20 to 30 minutes. Voyageur canoes are typically made of birch bark, officials noted, but the one used is fiberglass that resembles birch bark.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with reenactors on the museum grounds, speakers, and a performance in native regalia by four dancers and four drummers from the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Nation. Food trucks will be on site. There will be an archeological dig for children.

(photo of the voyageur canoe by Lynn Christensen. The museum’s deck for the was renovated for the Sauk Trail Festival with a grant from the America250MI project which commemorates the upcoming 250th birthday of the United States in 2026. (logo below)