Living Our History

Vandalia's inaugural Lincoln Heritage Festival was held over the weekend, featuring a lot of activities and some presentations about Vandalia during the time that Abraham Lincoln served as a state representative at the Vandalia Statehouse.

The weekend was organized by retired teacher and former mayor Sandra Leidner, who funded much of the weekend with a Looking for Lincoln grant. In the first photo , Union soldiers prepare to rush Confederates during the Civil War skirmish on Saturday night. In the second photo, Kendra Sharp looks at the judge while competing in the watermelon-eating contest on Saturday morning.

More photos from the weekend will appear in free photo galleries here later this week.