JACKSON, Mich. — If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, you may want to consider visiting Jackson.
The Jackson Civil War Muster is back this weekend for its 35th year at Cascades Park.
The popular historical attraction has been absent from Jackson for almost four years, muster President Maurice Imhoff said.
“The event was pretty much done. It wasn’t coming back,” he said. “I was able to meet up with several local historians and event community members in the community, and we were able to form a committee and bring back this event. It was a lot. It took a lot of time. But, it took community support.”
Guests will be able to enjoy seeing up to 500 Civil War re-enactors, along with tents, food vendors and other events.
New this year will be an immersive battle style. Previously, they scripted certain battles like the Battle of Gettysburg.
“This will allow the re-enactors to then work off of what happened,” Imhoff said. “So, if you have a group that goes to the right flank, now the group on the other side, the Union, opposing forces have to react to that. How do they react to it? If they get pushed, how do they move? So, this will be a lot more immersive. The artillery can fire at different times. The cavalry can also go. So, it’s not just infantry, we also have cavalry and people on horseback. It’s quite an experience.”
Organizers estimate 25,000 to 30,000 people will be there over the weekend.
The event is free and open to the public. It opens Saturday at 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“The reason being we have an artillery night fire during the night and also a ball where the re-enactors do a lot of dancing inside,” Imhoff said.
Imhoff says it’s an important event to have back so people can learn America’s history.
“We want to be able to learn, let’s go back in time, let’s look back at the history of where we were divided at one point in time, and how did we rebuild?” he said. “What were some of the discussions going on here? You can come ask the re-enactors why this happened. How can we rebuild, in many cases, including the confederate flag. It’s banned from many events and such, but this is the location where we want to talk about in a historical event.”
