This is our first big outdoor event of the season! Join us for a family-oriented, two-day event commemorating Walla Walla Valley regional heritage with historic reenactors, live demonstrations, music, dancing, children’s pioneer games, food, and more. 

A number of historic reenactors will be occupying encampments around the Museum grounds. Visitors may see fur traders, Civil War and Buffalo soldiers, old west cowboys and gold-rush miners, Lewis and Clark-era explorers, and early pioneers. The tents, tepees, and wagons will feature artifacts, trade goods, or displays from the time period represented by the reenactor. There will even be a 19th-century chuck wagon on display! Visitors are invited to meet and interact with the interpreters and their displays to see what life was like in the past. 

Many of the buildings in our Pioneer Village will come to life with some new residents, including blacksmiths hard at work in our shop and Daughters of the Pioneers warming the hearth in the Pioneer Cabin. Living History character William McBean, an 1840s fur trader, will have an array of furs and trade goods on hand. Walla Walla's first mayor, E.B. Whitman, will treat guests to old-time dancing with his wife, Maria.

A special guest returning to the old fort is Standing Rock Sioux opera singer Bonnie Jo Hunt. Lauded for her beautiful voice, Bonnie Jo also started the foundation Artists of Indian America to support cultural pride in Native American youths. Her publishing company, Mad Bear Press, publishes books that preserve native heritage, and the Museum is excited for her return.  

There will also be food available for purchase from Dickey's Barbecue Pit, craft demonstrations by lace makers and weavers, live music by the Erikson Family Band, pioneer games, and more! A full two-day schedule will be posted before the event.

Fort Walla Walla Days is included with the price of Museum admission, which is $8 general admission,  $7 for seniors (62+) and students, $3 for children ages 6-12, and free for Museum Members and children under 6.

Fort Walla Walla Days is sponsored by Banner Bank, Best Western Plus Walla Walla Suites Inn, Columbia REA, Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference Center, and Pacific Power.