Announcing The Oil Trough Appreciation Camp

April 12 - 13, (Friday and Saturday) 2019

Oil Trough City Park on White River between Batesville and Jacksonport. 

Last March 22nd, the EARA "Aux Arc" Keelboat capsized on the White River near Oil Trough, Arkansas .The town of Oil Trough, probably all 206 of them, came to our rescue IMMEDIATELY! They hauled us to their Community Center and provided the wet keelboat crew with dry towels, dry clothes for them that wanted, warm community building, hot coffee, the telephone for free, and 15 pizzas provided by Sissy's Diner in Oil Trough! The Mayor and Fire Chief boated back to the swamped keelboat, which was hung on a root ball of an old pecan tree, and recovered some of our possessions. This included getting inside the half submerged cabin, with water rushing through it, to release two long guns from the rack! Because of the tremendous response from the Oil Trough and other nearby communities to help us in our time of great need, and later to get the keelboat out of the River and on the trailer, it seems only fitting to do something for them. To that point we have been planning a rendezvous at Oil Trough - Here are the details:

FRIDAY (SCHOOL DAY):

Friday, April 12th (School Day) we will have 8 pre-arranged stations set up to demonstrate specific pre-1840 skills and trades for the students. The students will be guided through these stations on a 30-minute rotation, which would include a 25-minute presentation and a 5-minute station change. The schools plan to arrive at 9AM and depart at 2PM. We will have one person, a Guide, with each group of students, who's job is to keep the group moving in a timely manner from station to station. Currently it appears there may be 50 students in each of the 8 groups.

SATURDAY (PUBLIC DAY):

Saturday, April 13th, (Public Day) is a typical rendezvous where we interact with the visitors and ourselves in a random relaxed fashion. As visitors walk through the encampment they can see camp-life demonstrations, ask questions and see general presentations by EARA members.

Saturday we hope to schedule a special in-depth Bear Story Program by the AGFC. We will announce the Bear Story Program in camp so everyone will know when and where it is happening. Scheduled for Saturday afternoon, we will be cooking a period correct (potluck?) meal for the folks who helped us so gallantly in our time of need on the White River. Jimmy McDaniel (Mayor's Office) suggested we combine one of their regular Community Gatherings, where they have “Hot Dogs, Moon Pies and RC Colas”, with our historic food meal. Combining all this seems like a perfect way to celebrate Oil Trough. This is adding up to be a great event with lots of personal satisfaction to be gained. With little doubt the excitement that is being generated in the Oil Trough area from the schools, officials and town folks will be sufficient to carry this through to a successful and enjoyable encampment. The City of Oil Trough has gone out of their way to help us with the many details of this Camp. The whole excited community is solidly behind this event! We certainly appreciate your efforts to make this a special event for Oil Trough. Please contact us with your questions and suggestions at: [email protected]

Thank you for your help!