Good Ol' Days Overview

The 2008 Festival takes place Thursday June 5th through Sunday June 8th.

Fort Scott Idol Contest kicks off Good Ol' Days Thursday evening the Grand Parade marches Friday evening at 6 PM. All Season's Amusements will be operating Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday during the festival. This page features a generic overview of yearly events and activities. For more precise information on this year's Good Ol' Days Festival see the homepage.

1899 Street Fair Arts & Crafts

Saturday 10 AM - 6 PM and Sunday 10 AM - 5 PM Fort Scott's Historic Victorian Downtown is the setting for the Four State's Biggest and Best Summer Street Festival! The Good Ol' Days 1899 Street Fair may well indeed be the finest of it's kind in the nation!

Four blocks filled with more than 200 vendors from eight states offering arts and crafts, specialty foods and more.

Folk Art

• Finished and Unfinished Wooden Furniture
• Country Style Clothing
• Quilt Show & Sale
• Country Crafted Bears, Rabbits and Dolls

Artistic Creations

• Beautiful Watercolors
• Oil Paintings
• Jewelry
• Weavings
• Ceramics
• Pottery
• Dried or Silk Floral Arrangements

Good Things To Eat!

Roving Entertainment

Clowns and characters will enchant and entertain you as you stroll The Good Ol' Days!

Live Entertainment

Fort Scott's Good Ol' Days features continuous live entertainment from three downtown locations, all day and evening all weekend long! The finest regional and local talent.

Music for all tastes Polka, Bluegrass, Gospel, Dixieland Jazz, Country, '50s '60s Oldies Rock 'N' Roll, Classic Rock, R & B and Soul! Our Gospel Tent Stage has the finest inspirational entertainment the mid-west has to offer. Enjoy 2 days of Southern Gospel music.

Hello, Dolly!

Model Railroad Exhibits

One event that's very popular with children of ALL Ages is the Model Railroad Exhibit. See model railroad layouts and railroad memorabilia!

1840s Fort Scott National Historic Site

During Good Ol' Days Fort Scott National Historic Site comes alive with guided tours of the beautifully restored buildings, period music and living history demonstrations that recreate life as it was at Fort Scott in times past. There's "Living History " of the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s on-going from 9:00-4:00 Saturday & Sunday.

Brief History of the Fort

Fort Scott was founded in 1842 by the United States Dragoons to police & protect the Permanent Indian Frontier. In 1855, after the fort was abandoned, all of the impressive government buildings were sold at a public auction and they became the town of Fort Scott. The thriving town consisted of the former military buildings that became hotels, stores and private homes.

During the chaos of "Bleeding Kansas", the U.S. Army returned frequently to Fort Scott and restored law & order between 1857 and 1861. In the Civil War, the Union Army permanently occupied Fort Scott and it became a huge military complex that included a very large hospital, national military cemetery, prison, recruitment station, supply center and haven for homeless refugees.

Designated in 1978 as a National Historic Site, Fort Scott's 20 historic structures, parade ground and five acres of restored tall grass prairie bear witness to the time when the United States was forged from a young divided republic into a united and powerful transcontinental nation.