While life was often hard and unforgiving on the edges of the fledgling colonial empires in North America, people still knew how to have fun. In France, and in the New French Colony of Canada which included today’s State of Indiana and Fort Ouiatenon, feast days of the Saints in the Catholic church often were used as excuses to stop working and to have a celebration. The most famous of these midsummer celebrations for the French Colonists, traditionally celebrated with food, bonfires, and in Canada an odd twist on the Maypole ceremony, is the Feast of Saint John the Baptist. La Compagnie des Beaux Eaux is the sponsor of this living history event. The event is free to the public.