Step back in time at Port Oneida Fair

From staff reports

Step back in time at the Port Oneida Fair on Friday and Saturday, August 8-9. The fair runs each day from 10 am to 4 pm and includes more than 60 demonstrators of traditional skills and crafts at four historic sites. This year’s sites are all concentrated at Port Oneida Road and Harbor Highway (M-22), four miles northeast of Glen Arbor, and include Dechow Farm, Kelderhouse Farm, Olsen Farm, and Port Oneida Schoolhouse.

Parking is at one of the two parking lots (Olsen and Dechow farms) with a free shuttle stopping at each of the four locations approximately every 15 minutes. The proximity of all sites allows for easy walking between them on walking paths, or you can enjoy a horse and wagon ride between Olsen and Dechow farms.

The fair brings the Port Oneida Rural Historic District alive with activities true to the by-gone period when it was a community of robust settlers. Visitors will experience life as it was in the late 1800s and early 1900s with each farm having a variety of artists, music, crafts, food, games and programs.

The fair has interests for all ages. A program highlight will be an hourly presentation “Life and Times of a Lighthouse Keeper” at Olsen Farm. Featured artists include barn quilt artwork, and traditional tin type art with personalized portraits by a traditional artist. School Days will be in session at 11 and 1 pm daily at the one room schoolhouse with a Junior Ranger program and historic toys outside.

Returning visitors might note this year that the Thoreson Farm has been retired as a fair site location. Thoreson Farm remains an important piece of the Port Oneida landscape and history, and in memory of the late Leonard Thoreson, the 2025 fair poster highlights this historic farm. Posters will be available for sale at Dechow and Olsen farms during the fair and are available now for pre-sale at the Olsen Farm during regular hours, or online.

The fair is presented by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in partnership with Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear.

The event is free with a park pass. For more information, visit Phsb.org/Port-Oneida-Fair/.