At the Big Island Rendezvous & Festival, the participants know each other as fur traders, canoeman and beadworkers, but in their day-to-day lives they often work regular jobs.

“A lot of people don’t seem to understand that we have other lives besides this,” said Derek Berg. It was the first trip to the Big Island Rendezvous for Derek Berg, but he’s been to many other reenactments before.

At the Rendezvous, Berg is a voyageur nearing retirement around 1822. A voyageur is a French canoeman that Berg described as the equivalent of a modern truck driver.

While he said some traders participate in the Rendezvous for a living, many other people work various jobs and will participate in other festivals for fun and educational reasons.

When he’s not a voyageur, he’s a quality control technician at Peerless Chain Inc. and a part-time sports writer.

Berg spent about a year studying books and studying in museums to gain the knowledge about the time period and his role.

“Sometimes I like pushing myself to see how well I can rough it. I figured if my forefathers could do it for a lifetime, I could do it for three days,” Berg said.

Despite the rain Friday, Berg said he was warm and dry in his diamond tent, which consisted of a dark piece of cloth with an oar holding the canvas up.

He said you learn ways to stay warm whensleeping outside.

Brenda Kontz started coming to the Rendezvous and helping out about 20 years ago. Kontz is also known as Many Trails at the Rendezvous, but since she spends a lot of time helping when students visit the Rendezvous, Kontz hasn’t delved as deeply into her character as some Rendezvous participants.

“I’d say it’s escaping from reality,” Kontz said. “You can take on a different character and be someone else for a couple weeks.”

Kontz and Berg both said it’s refreshing to get away from technology and electricity for a few days.

All the Rendezvous participants come from different areas and different backgrounds to gather at the Rendezvous. When area students and local residents aren’t attending the Rendezvous, the participants spend their time playing music, dancing and sitting around the campfire telling stories.

“Everybody out here is kind of like family, even though you don’t know them,” Berg said.

Berg said this time is the best part of the Rendezvous. Berg said he brought his grandson to a different festival, and he knew other people would help watch him.

Another activity for Rendezvous participants Saturday night is a paddle dance, where a girl is lined up in front of a boy. If she doesn’t want to dance with the boy in front of her, she passes the paddle to the next girl.

Despite the bonding between participants, Berg said he often only knows other participants by their Rendezvous roles. He referred to one family who are buckskinners at the Rendezvous and he said he only knows them as buckskinners.

“I spend some time going around to people going, You do something for a living? What do you do for a living? I can’t picture you in any other scene than that. You meet up with one of these skinners in Rochester or something like that, and you go, whoa. You’re dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt,” Berg said.

“It’s shocking when we meet outside of this setting,” he added.

Leon StandsAlone portrays an ancestor who was half white and half Lakota living in a camp around the 1870s. He wore a soldier’s coat he said he got from someone who didn’t need it anymore.

“It’s really a gathering of likeminded people. We all have that history interest. It may be a different point in history, but we’re all trying to remember the old ways, the old skills, and I always like to pick other people’s brains to learn some of the things they’ve picked up and then share what I know,” StandsAlone said.

When he’s not at the Rendezvous, StandsAlone is a truck mechanic in the Twin Cities. After returning to work next week for a few days, he’ll go to Winona for another rendezvous.

Dennis Polak and his son Andrew came out the Big Island Rendezvous for their second year. The two set up a teepee, and Dennis is a bead worker.

When they’re not at a rendezvous, Dennis works in construction in Coon Rapids. Andrew is planning to join the Air Force.  

Marni and Erick Shelley also said the Big Island Rendezvous is like a big family. The two stayed with their 2-year-old son, Thorin, in a cabin that’s 12 feet by 12 feet. The cabin is owned by the Rendezvous.

Marni attended her first rendezvous when she was 2-months-old. She and Eric met at a rendezvous, Erick proposed to Marni at a Rendezvous and the two were married at a Rendezvous.

Marni’s parents, grandpa and great-uncle were all rendezvous participants.

The two live in Rochester, where Marni is in nursing school and Erick works for Rochester Armored Car Co.

Erick said the cabin is a replica of homes built as part of the land grants during the 1850s to 1870s, where people had to build a cabin and grow a crop in one year or lose their land, Erick said. He said more than 10 people would stay in the cabin.

The winter is often a good time for the family to do research. Erick said events like the Rendezvous is a great hands on learning experience.

“It’s a great vacation in funny clothes,” Erick said. “It’s a hands-on living history.”