CALHOUN: The past returns for Old Settlers Days

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By Cory Davenport

Old Settlers Days was founded in 1981 to celebrate the way things used to be – specifically the way things used to be made.
Barb Snyders, who has orchestrated the event since its founding, said Kampsville’s annual flagship event is one of the only of its kind still growing in attendance. While last weekend’s weather kept the crowd to a manageable minimum, Snyders said a weekend without rain would have seen crowds balloon to as many as 10,000 people. To put that into perspective, there are only around 4,400 people living in the entirety of Calhoun County.
“Yeah, we had to increase the amount of porta-potties and dumpsters,” Snyders said of the attendance swell. “If you think about it, we’re less than an hour from Alton, around the same from Jacksonville, about an hour south of Quincy, and about an hour and a half from Springfield. So, while it feels like you are out in the boonies here, you’re really not. You’re in the middle of a lot of different places.”
Snyders works with a group of only around 10 volunteers to put together the entirety of Old Settlers Days. Despite its growth, the core of it is still dedicated to old-timey craftsmanship. Snyders herself travels across the region to several such reenactments. At Old Settlers Days, she specializes in making kettle-popped corn and puffed pork skins dusted with barbecue and hot sauce.
A lot of food and wares were on display among the event’s 100 vendors spread across the Kampsville riverfront. Folks in attendance could remember the days when the American bison roamed the prairies of Illinois with a buffalo burger. They could wash it down with Bud’s Homemade Root Beer (or ginger ale or cream soda), a tonic without carbonation based on family recipes more than a century old.
Among the pioneer fare were tents reminiscent of the sorts one would have seen along the Illinois River in the 18th and 19th centuries. Folks representing each side of the Civil War joined together outside one of them cooking in an antique stove pot. Chris Beilsmith, whose last name literally translates to “blacksmith,” was demonstrating how Confederate supply chains work while on break from his furnace and anvil.
“Instead of the oil and fuel of today, supply chains back then relied on people like me working on wheels when they broke and guns and cannons as well,” he said.
On the northern side of the event, the old-timey ambiance was replaced with more modern vendors selling homemade wares made of plastic. Among these, however, the pioneer spirit could still be found. A modernized apothecary with tinctures fashioned with herbs such as rose, St. Johns wort, and imported ashwaganda demonstrated how folks would have treated their ailments before the advent of modern medicine. In fact, many folks still use these remedies today.
Overall, Snyders said she was pleased with this year’s event, despite what many folks would have described as shoddy weather. She added there have only been two Old Settlers Days missed since 1981 – once for Covid and once for flooding. She also added that she would like to see more folks get involved with the herculean planning efforts – as 10 volunteers working for an event attended by upwards of 1,000 times that is difficult.
To get involved with Old Settlers Days, Snyders requests folks message their Facebook page. She said they are always looking for more volunteers and vendors.