FMHP Pumpkin Festival - Walk Host Ben Michaels

We have a local celebrity leading our afternoon walking group conversation during the Four Mile Historic Park's annual popular Pumpkin Festival. Our topic will be "Our 1859-1864 Ancestors' Election Dreams." Our celebrity Walk Host is Ben Michaels. Ben Michaels has been considered a first class performer all over Colorado and Chicago for the past 6 years. He's another star who was trained at the famed Second City in Chicago. Ben was the Master of Ceremonies at the Obama Rally in Bicentennial Park on Saturday, September 27, 2008. He will be the M/C of the R2B Colorado March and Rally on Saturday, October 25, 2008, beginning at Colfax and Franklin and ending at the Civic Center. You can read more about Ben Michaels on his web site at www.benmichaels.net.

During our walking group conversation, you, your family, friends and community will have an opportunity to share the election dreams of your 1859-1864 ancestors wherever they lived during the time of the Civil War in the United States.

Walking in the Four Mile Historic Park, we will all feel the sharp contrast between the old and the new life choices. This contrast is a reminder to encourage everyone to register to vote before the deadline for new voters to register no later than Monday October 6, 2008. If you're already registered, please give yourself the option of voting by mail, or dropping off your mail-in ballot at your precinct, bypassing the long lines of people waiting to vote. You can register to vote or verify your registration status online with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office at www.elections.colorado.gov/DDefault.aspx?/main.htm.

Surrounded by costumed people from Denver, Colorado's gold rush days when the Four Mile Historic Park history began, 1859, with Conestoga wagons and stage coaches, you'll hear the contrast of living in 2008 with the occasional roar of a plane overhead. You'll be reminded of the new wealth that was created by the collaborative efforts of our ancestors.

Coming from the days when their best choices were outhouses and root cellars, you can imagine the awesome experience our ancestors would have if they could step out of 1859-1864 and step into our 2008 experience of seeing a bathroom toilet connected to a sewage system. And what wide-eyed awe your ancestor would experience at night when opening a lighted refrigerator door, instead of a dark root cellar door. There's something wonderful about both the old and the new. The best part of both the old and the new is the love and respect that made both a simple life and a more complex collaborative life so beautiful.

Let's walk about it! What were the hopes and dreams of your ancestors before and after the election during 1859-1864?

You're invited to visit the TopicTalkWalks.com domain web site to learn more about the "walking talk show" approach to scheduling walking group conversations.

After the walk everyone is encouraged to share the Pumpkin Festival experience together. ADMISSION IS FREE! There is a charge for pumpkins and some activities, such as horse-drawn rides, do-it-yourself scarecrow building, historic house tours, and food. Many things are free, like watching and listening to the blacksmiths, the horses, sheep and other animals. Free cookies from wood-burning ovens, historic costumed guides, historic music, and historic re-enactments. You can read about this event and the Four Mile Historic Park at www.fourmilepark.org/events.php.

TTW is collaborating with the Random Acts of Kindness Meetup Group for this election history topic in the FMHP fundraising festival event.

This walk is not sponsored by the Four Mile Historic Park, but many TopicTalkWalks members are fond supporters of the Four Mile Historic Park.