By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Organizers of next week's Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration say it will be the largest in the nation.
The four-day festival starts Thursday, May 13 along the Mississippi River in Hartford, Illinois.
Costumed re-enactors will portray historical figures. There will also be period music and food, and visitors can see a replica of the expedition's keelboat.
The Illinois Bicentennial Commission's Harry Windland says the event will demonstrate the importance of Lewis and Clark to the country's growth.
"We try to do that in a way that is fun and pleasant and exciting and very much living history, as opposed to reading it out of a textbook and remembering dates and those kinds of things," Windland said.
In addition to the events in Hartford, similar festivities are scheduled in St. Charles.