Old Town Park will be full of activity Sept. 19 for the Job Carr Cabin Museum’s Living History Festival and second annual Old Town Walking Tour. Visitors can go on a guided walking tour to some of the most important places related to the founding of Tacoma as historical re-enactors at the sites where the actual historical figures lived, tell stories of the people that helped found Tacoma. At the free festival there will be family-friendly pioneer games, activities and entertainment for children of all ages.

Museum Director Margie Deck said these events reflect the museum’s mission to preserve and promote the history of Old Town, the birthplace of the city of Tacoma. “The cabin museum preserves and promotes the history of Tacoma with a faithfully reconstructed replica of the home of the first permanent non-native settler, Job Carr, in the area that was to become Tacoma,” she explained. In addition to hosting visitors Wednesdays through Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m., the museum offers an extensive education program for local elementary school and home-school students, serving approximately 900 third-graders each school year.

Experts at bringing history alive, the volunteers at Job Carr Cabin Museum have come up with a lot of novel and educational things to see, hear and do at the festival: traditional pioneer music and dancing, games, contests and opportunities to try pioneer chores such as crocheting, rub-board clothes washing and hammering nails. Blacksmith John Simpkins will present demonstrations of his craft and costumed ambassadors will model clothing from the era. Gardensphere organic nursery in Old Town will explain gardening in pioneer days with the help of some live chickens. Other activities include panning for gold and packing a covered wagon. Families are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets to sit on the grass and enjoy the music of special guests Don and Sylvia Shriner of the North Pine String Band from Ellensburg, Lark in the Dark, a traditional Celtic group from Vashon Island, and Tacoma’s Debbie Aqua Birkey playing the mountain dulcimer. The festival begins at 2 p.m. and runs until 6 p.m.

During the Walking Tour, some of the sites on the route include Job Carr’s cabin with Job and Rebecca Carr discussing their family’s history and the founding of Tacoma; Seaman’s Rest with proprietor and humanitarian Christine Funnemark explaining why she devoted her life to alleviating the distress of homeless mariners; McCarver’s Marker where General Morton Matthew McCarver weaves the story of the adventures that brought him to Tacoma as one of its first developers; and Old St. Peter’s Church where founding bishops and local dignitaries reveal how the oldest church in Tacoma - with the oldest bell tower in the United States - came to be conceived and built in only 10 days.

Tickets for the tours will be available during the festival and may be charged with Visa or MasterCard. Free on-street parking is available. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for children 3-12, and free for children 2 and under. Tours will be limited in size, will last approximately 45 minutes, and will require navigating steps, curbs and minor slopes. Those attending may chose to drive themselves around to North 29th Street and rejoin the tour there to avoid the stairs. The rest of the tour should be fairly navigable and will end in Old St. Peter’s Church with a lively presentation and refreshments.

The guided tours will begin inside the Job Carr Cabin Museum at 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. and will feature original diaries and artifacts, period furnishings, early Tacoma history accounts and memorabilia, rotating exhibits, video reenactment, interactive activities and will serve as a visitor center for the Old Town business district.

Old Town Park is located at 2350 N. 30th St. For more information contact Margie Deck at (253) 627-5405, send e-mail to mdeck@jobcarrmuseum.org or visit www.jobcarrmuseum.org.