Campton Township will host the Eighth Annual Prairie Fest on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, at Historic Corron Farm, 7N761 Corron Road, at the Corner of Silver Glen and Corron Roads.

The event will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. rain or shine. Parking, admission, tours and refreshments are free.

Open-space volunteers and staff will take guests on hay wagon tours of the Prairie and Oak Savanna. Tours of the 1850s brick Greek Revival home, built by Robert C. Corron, one of the earliest settlers in Campton Township, will be given. There will be a children’s corner with scavenger hunts and games. Honey from bees at Corron Farm and fundraising items will be available for sale. Enjoy live musical entertainment throughout the day as well as view historic Corron Farm artifacts and live animals.

For more information: www.camptontownship.com or campton-parks-and-open-space.com.

The Corron Farm Preservation Society, a 501(c)(3) and Illinois tax exempt organization, will hold a 50/50 raffle to raise funds for rehabilitation of the 1870s era dairy barn. A pig roast held in June raised about $10,000 through donations, a live auction, and meal ticket sales. The Society has completed the repair of six 1920s era brick pillars in front of the historic home on Corron Road and has begun the first stage of the dairy barn’s rehabilitation. Volunteers from the Preservation Society are working to inventory household items and memorabilia. There are many books, letters and documents dating back to as early as 1830.

The Preservation Society recently received a grant from the Thornapple Questers of St. Charles to archive letters, postcards and other printed matter. Lucinda (Cindy) Corron paved the way for volunteers in her tireless efforts to document her family histories (Muirhead, Beith, Richmond, and Corron)

The Corron family correspondence collection includes letters from the Amick family, who were cousins of the Corron family. Hiram Amick was employed by the Chicago Fire Department at the time of the “Great Fire.” His first letter after the fire states, “It’s awful.” His brother, Myron Amick, was a famed Civil War scout, and the collection includes many letters from camp.   Vintage postcards and some very interesting temperance and women’s rights sheet music have also been archived.

For more information: www.corronfarmpreservationsociety.org