Passion for fashion keeps Duluth reenactor returning

DULUTH — Marlene Platcek isn’t quite sure when she first joined the Lester River Rendezvous, but she knows it’s been about a decade. The Two Harbors-based historical reenactor had been involved in history rendezvous across Minnesota and Colorado for 20 years before she started attending the Lester Park event.

“It’s the history part of it that I like,” Platcek said. “I do the sewing part of the clothes and it’s just fun to talk to people about clothes, what people would wear.”

The

Lester River Rendezvous

is set in the 18th and early 19th century. Reenactors statewide gather in the park for two educational days that immerse Northland students in the daily life of a voyageur fur trader with interactive demonstrations. Activities include cooking over an open fire, tanning hides, hatchet throwing, and cannon-fire and musket-shooting demonstrations.

Following the two education days, the rendezvous is open to the public Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Platcek’s corner of the festival has a lot less gunpowder, but she said kids of all ages like to gather at her tent to learn about making clothes.

“I demonstrate how they printed fabric by hand,” Platcek said. “I take tons of white fabric and cut it up into squares and get some ink stamp pads and let the kids try out hand block printing. Listen — even the boys like it.”

Platcek said that sometimes the kids are really surprised about how much work goes into creating clothing.

“I tell the kids they didn’t have a Walmart to go to,” she said. “Mothers would buy these big bolts of fabric and the girls would get the same piece of fabric, same dresses. Then, when things get worn out, they’d patch them up until there was nothing left. Then they’d cut it up and use them for quilting.”

When it comes to her own Rendezvous outfit, Platcek said she likes to pick some simple pieces that work together, such as a chemise, an English bodice (with silverwork created by a silversmith friend) tied up the front with a skirt and a short down deck jacket.

Tyler Schank / File / Duluth Media Group

“Then, I usually have my hair up. It’s proper to have your hair up and covered back during that time,” Platcek said. “So I usually wear a mop hat, depending on the weather.”

She has several examples of what men and women in the region would wear back in the day, such as navy pants and dresses, petticoats, short gown jackets and more.

“I’ve just done a lot of sewing over the years, and I like sharing it with people,” Platcek said. “I have an old Singer hand-crank sewing machine that I’d take with me to demonstrate some old sewing techniques. It’s technically a little bit newer than the time, but I just said that it’s something that will be coming in the future.”

Platcek said she started going to rendezvous and reenacting due to her late husband.

“He was more of a historian than me, and he liked the time frame of the fur trade,” Platcek said. “It’s just something we started doing together and that I still do.”

One of her daughters has kept up the tradition of creating period-accurate clothing and attends rendezvous events in Colorado.

As for Platcek, you can find her demonstrating fabric printing and sewing at the Lester River Rendezvous on Saturday.

Dan Williamson / File / Duluth News Tribune

Teri Cadeau is a features reporter for the Duluth News Tribune. Originally from the Iron Range, Cadeau has worked for several community newspapers in the Duluth area, including the Duluth Budgeteer News, Western Weekly, Weekly Observer, Lake County News-Chronicle, and occasionally, the Cloquet Pine Journal. When not working, she’s an avid reader, crafter, dancer, trivia fanatic and cribbage player.