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When: Saturday, June 7, 2014 | 10 am – 3 pm
Where: East Garfield and Abend Streets | See map »
Media Coverage: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Family welcomes tour visitors during Belleville’s bicentennial celebration
Belleville News-Democrat: Grand old Belleville home puts welcome mat out for street fair

As part of the Belleville Bicentennial Celebration, the historical society is organizing an Old Belleville Street Fair! Join us on Saturday, June 7, 2014, in the Old Belleville Historic District. The fair will kick off with an opening ceremony at 10 am at the intersection of Abend and East Garfield Streets. Events will continue until 3 pm.

Activities will include:

• Late 1800’s period demonstrations include a spinner and weaver, a cobbler, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a glass glazer, a woodcarver, a pretzel maker, a potato chip maker, a beer brewer, and a Civil War encampment.
• Walking tours of the area, led by historian Bob Brunkow, PhD, beginning at 10:30, 11:30 and 1:30. Free
• Historic Home Tour of nine houses on Abend, Garfield and South Charles Streets. Full details included below. $12
• Museum Open House Tour with eight museums and historic sites, including the Gustave Koerner House and Visitors Center, the St. Clair County Historical Society’s Victorian Museum and Emma Kunz House. Full details included below. Free
• A display of the flags that have flown over Belleville in its 200 years, presented by the local Daughters of the American Revolution.
• A reenactment of Belleville’s old “cow walk” tradition. The walk will begin at Washington School and follow old Cow Street, now East Garfield Street, to what was once the pasture at Forest Avenue.
• Period entertainment and food and drink.

Street Fair and Tour Schedules

Click below for more information about each event or tour.

• Street Fair Schedule | 10am – 3pm
• Demonstrations & Exhibits | 10am – 3pm
• Historic House Tour | 10:30am – 3pm
• Museum Open House Tour | 10am – 3pm
• Emma Kunz House Tours | 10:40am, 12pm, 2pm
• Victorian Home Museum Tours | 11am, 1pm
• Messenger Cemetery & Schoolhouse Tour | 3pm

Street Fair Schedule | 10am – 3pm

All events are on the stage at Garfield and Abend unless otherwise noted.

• 9:58 Ringing of the original Washington School bell (1865) atop the Belleville News Democrat building
• 10:00 German National Anthem sung by the students of Belleville East and West High Schools
• 10:05 American National Anthem sung by the Sounds of Harmony Barbershop Chorus
• 10:10 Remarks by Mayor Mark Eckert
• 10:15 Remarks by Congressman William Enyart
• 10:20 Remarks by Honorary German Consul Lansing Hecker
• 10:25 German songs by the students of Belleville East and West High Schools
• 10:30 Walking Tour (free) with Bob Brunkow – Meet at Garfield Street Saloon
• 10:35 Cow Drive down Cow Street (600 block of East Garfield)
• 10:40 Music by Sounds of Harmony Barbershop Chorus
• 11:10 Traditional German dances by the Youth Group (Jugendgruppe) of the German Cultural Society of St. Louis
• 11:30 Walking Tour (free) with Bob Brunkow – Meet at Garfield Street Saloon
• 11:30 Flags over America 1814-2014 by the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution)
• 12:00 Cow Drive down Cow Street (600 block of East Garfield)
• 12:05 Classical music by the Prevailing Winds Quintet, members of the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra
• 1:05 Accordion music by Mardy Eisloeffel and Charles Weyhaupt
• 1:30 Walking Tour (free) with Bob Brunkow – Meet at Garfield Street Saloon
• 1:30 Becky Kern Taylor presents “Music of Our Hometown”
• 2:00 Cow Drive down Cow Street (600 bock of East Garfield)
• 2:05 Music by Mardy Eisloeffel and Charles Weyhaupt (accordion), Chris Smith (tuba) and Alex Smith (trumpet)
• 3:00 “Zapfenstreich”

Demonstrations & Exhibitions | 10am – 3pm

The following activities will be ongoing throughout the day at the Street Fair.

• Oma Pustmuellers General Store – Garfield Street Saloon
• Beer (Bier) Brewing – Garfield Street Saloon
• Belleville’s Back Yard in the 1800’s – 629 East Garfield
• Bricks of Belleville – 625 East Garfield
• Carpenter – 626 East Garfield
• Glass Glazing – 624 East Garfield
• Restoration in Progress – 619 East Garfield
  See 1964 Belleville Sesquicentennial Parade Slide Show in Theater
• Potato Chip Maker – 617 East Garfield
• Civil War Reenactor – 612 East Garfield
• Blacksmithing – 606 East Garfield
• Kettle Corn – 509 East Garfield
• Stage – Corner of East Garfield and Abend Streets
• High Wheel Bike Exhibit – 319 Abend
• Spinner – 311 Abend
• Weaver – 309 Abend
• Sockmaker – 307 Abend
• Woodcarver – 221 Abend
• Old Time Laundry – 211 Abend
• Privy Excavation – Koerner House

Historic House Tour | 10:30am – 3pm

Nine homes all within walking distance in the Old Belleville Historic District will be on tour from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 and may be purchased the day of the tour at the Historic Garfield Street Saloon. You may purchase $10 tickets in advance at the Belleville businesses listed below. All proceeds will benefit the preservation efforts of the Belleville Historical Society.

Read article in St. Louis Post-Dispatch »
Read article in Belleville News-Democrat »

These homes will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• 606 East Garfield
• 609 East Garfield
• 619 East Garfield
• 203 Abend
• 224 Abend
• 302 Abend
• 315 Abend
• 402 Abend
• 118 South Charles

Advance tickets are $10 and may be purchased starting May 2 at the following locations:

• Circa Boutique: 128 E Main St
• Local Lucy’s: 18 E Main St
• Dill’s Floral Haven: 258 Lebanon Ave
• Miscellanea Coffee House: 1111 W Main
• Fletcher’s Kitchen & Tap: 6101 W Main St
• Eckert’s Country Market: 951 S Green Mt Rd

Museum Open House Tour | 10am – 3pm

Eight museums/historic sites can be visited on foot, via secret passage or by “trolley” (free) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Four are within walking distance of the street fair. Take the “trolley” (actually a small bus, but use your imagination!) to visit all seven downtown sites. Board at any museum.

• Garfield Street Saloon – 633 East Garfield
• Emma Kunz House (tours at 10:40 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.) – 602 Fulton Street
• Gustave Koerner House – 200 Abend
• Koerner House Visitor Center – 127 Mascoutah
• Victorian Home Museum (tours at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.) – 701 East Washington
• Labor and Industry Museum – 123 North Church
• Belleville Pubic Library – 121 East Washington
  St. Clair County Genealogical Society will be offering assistance
• Messenger Cemetery & Schoolhouse (tour at 3 p.m.)– 3450 Old Collinsville Road

Emma Kunz House Tours | 10:40am, 12pm, 2pm

Tours at 10:40 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. at 602 Fulton Street.

Make Your Own Butter and Churning Demonstration.

Recreational Quoits (Victorian Ring Toss) Tournament 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Victorian Home Museum Tours | 11am, 1pm

Tours and preview of 705 E. Washington 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Make and Take Crafts (corn husk dolls, buzz saws and revolving serpents).

Messenger Cemetery & Schoolhouse Tour | 3pm

Tour at 3450 Old Collinsville Road at 3 p.m.

Built by pioneering surveyor and educator John Messenger for his children in the 1840’s, the Messenger Schoolhouse is thought to be the oldest one-room schoolhouse in St. Clair County.