The History of a History Show

Second Post of the Day

My sister Leslie and her husband Rick owned and operated The Kalamazoo Living History Show from 2006 to 2025.

Larry and Carol Coin started the show in 1976 and ran it for 31 years. Ready to step down in 2006, they sent a letter to that effect in December of 2006 when normally they would have been sending out applications to the show. Leslie and Rick discussed helping out, stepped up, and offered to purchase the show and keep it running.

Two weeks later the Coins sent out a "the show is saved" letter which included applications for the coming year. Rick and Les have run the show ever since.

An early picture from 2009 of a staff meeting. Leslie is third from the left in the blue dress.

Rick is fifth from left, and my mother is sixth. (In the red jacket and gold petticoat.)

After a wonderful run of 19 years (which included the Covid year of 2020), Leslie and Rick were ready to hand the baton to someone else.

They sold the show to experienced reenactors Ethan Yazel and his wife, Paisley.

 The Yazels spent the 2025 show shadowing Leslie and Rick in preparation for this year's show. The show could not be in better hands.

Last November the Yazels brought a trailer to the farm and loaded all the show's supplies onto it. A bittersweet day, but it was time - running a living history show is a lot of work and Leslie and Rick were ready to step down.

They haven't stepped totally away from the show, though. At least not this year. They have been answering questions and providing support as Ethan and Paisley have put the 2026 show together.

Rick and Ethan in the farm's kitchen going over paperwork.

Rick looking at a map of vendor placements in one of the Expo's halls.

On the Friday before the event, the staff comes in early and has dinner and a meeting in preparation for the weekend's show.

Leslie and Ethan serving staff at the 2025 Friday night staff dinner.

Kind of the calm before the storm! Staffers listen and eat while directions are given, knowing that they won't be doing much sitting or eating over the next two days.

The last huzzah at the end of every show - the staff photo. This one was especially poignant since it was Leslie and Rick's last.

Already Ethan and Paisley have put their own brand on the show. Not only do things look promising, but they look exciting as well. The show's future is bright. 

Best of luck, Ethan and Paisley!

Be sure to comment if you want to enter the March Give Away!

A Kalamazoo Surprise

In a text from Leslie yesterday, she mentioned that she was proofreading the program for this year's Kalamazoo show and that I was on staff.

Wait. What??

That was a surprise, but actually a good one. And, a helpful one, one that may mean that I can continue coming to the show in future years.

Let me back up and fill in some information.

To operate a show as big as KZoo takes a lot of staff support and there are about 35 staff members, all living history folks, who work for the show in exchange for a few perks - dinner Friday night before the show, lunches on Saturday and Sunday, and the biggie, their hotel rooms are comped.

The 2025 Kalamazoo staff with Rick, Leslie, and the show's new owner, Ethan Yazel, center front.

When I started up Jolis Chevaux in 2021, Leslie asked me to come participate as a vendor and has kindly comped my hotel room every year since.

That free hotel gift has been a real blessing and honestly, I never would have gone because that hotel cost would have taken such a large chunk of my profits from the show.

 It's a mutually beneficial plan. Leslie sets my booth up next to hers where she sells her block print fabrics.

and uses my clothing to show and advertise what her buyers can do with their block prints. Win-win for us both.

With the sale of the show to the Yazels, I knew that that free hotel was coming to an end. 

But it turned out okay, at least for the 2026 show. Remember that milkmaid outfit I made for Leslie that she wears in her cheesemaking demonstrations?

Sneaky girl, when I refused to accept payment for it (she's my sister and has helped me so much in getting Jolis Chevaux off the ground), she paid for my KZoo hotel room this year.

Ethan and his wife, Paisley, are very experienced living history participants and just good, salt of the earth folks.

He is tech savvy and has revamped the website, the Facebook page, and has been doing Live Facebook chats about the show for vendors and participants. The show is in excellent hands.

The past couple of months, Ethan and I have talked several times about me volunteering for the show, perhaps in a behind the scenes role since I had to be in my booth all day. He was very positive in those conversations, but I had never heard what he'd like me to do and did not realize that he'd gone ahead and put me on staff.

When I asked Leslie about what I would be doing, she simply said, "I am sure Ethan will find something for you to do."

Alrighty then!

Being on staff and receiving the staff compensation for meals and hotel will make it so I can continue to attend the show, that the months-long sewing I do in preparation will be worth the time that I spent, and that I can participate in a show that I love.

But, I am determined to make sure that I am helping out, too. What that is going to look like is unknown, but it's only right that I do my part in exchange for what I will receive.