By Katherine LaLonde
Special for The State News

With 169 candles on its cake this year, the state of Michigan has a lot of history to look back on.

The Michigan Historical Museum celebrated Michigan's birthday on Saturday by having visitors revisit 1830s life with its Statehood Day event. Attendees learned to wheat weave, watched demonstrators rug hooking and listened to banjo playing.

Volunteers at the museum, 702 W. Kalamazoo St. in Lansing, gave students and families a taste of the 1830s. Michigan entered the Union on January 26, 1837, and at that time it was the fastest-growing territory in the country.

Visitors got to experience what life was like during that time. On display were early maps of Michigan, which "(look) like a wet pretzel," said volunteer Jim Mulder of Wyoming, Mich.

Mulder compared early map making to a baby learning to walk.

"Back then they didn't have the resources we have today to make such accurate maps," Mulder said.

Comparing the 1830s maps to maps of today gave visitors a glimpse of how Michigan has advanced.

"The whole experience today shows how we have grown as a state but also as people. It makes you think back and go, 'Oh yeah, that's what it was like back then,'" said Sam Herman, a volunteer who spent the afternoon playing the banjo.

Jo Anne Arasim, director of the event, said the activities gave visitors the chance to see how resourceful people were in the 1830s. Arasim gave visitors a hands-on experience of weaving wheat, something the pilgrims did to ensure crop growth.

Other activities included quilting, land surveying, playing games and making wagon wheels and toys of the 1830s.

Arasim and Mulder both stressed the importance of getting kids involved in learning.

"Historical re-enactment is really important to the education experiences," Arasim said.

The hands-on activities were aimed at making history fun for kids, not a dreaded class, volunteers said.

Kikel Sekoni, a third grader from Lansing, agreed. Her favorite part was seeing all the people dressed up.

"When they just talk it's boring and when we do stuff it's fun," Sekoni said.

Barbara Wheeler of Lansing, who dressed in women's clothing from the Civil War period, gave brief history lessons about early Michigan.

Wheeler explained how Toledo was once controlled by Michigan and showed visitors a rare box that had the address Toledo, Mich. on it. Congress gave Michigan part of the Upper Peninsula in 1835 in exchange for giving Toledo to Ohio to solve a border dispute.

"We try and convince people that history isn't scary. We try to make it fun," Wheeler said.

Wheeler also said that the museum is in need of volunteers and encouraged MSU students to dedicate their time.

Statehood Day was sponsored by Friends of Michigan History and has been a long-standing tradition at the museum.

All events are free and the museum is open seven days a week. Although Statehood Day is an annual event, the displays are up year-round and give visitors the chance to appreciate and learn about the state of Michigan.

"Citizens of Michigan need to know how their state was started," said Tami Averill of Milford, who is the museum's curator of education.