Lisle Depot Days takes visitors to 19th century

Outside the grounds of the Museums at Lisle Station Park this weekend, life looked familiar, modern.

Inside the museum campus, it was clearly the 19th century.

Rather than staring at their phones, kids learned to weave, joined sack races, pieced together puzzles and took sides in a tug-of-war.

And families skipped errands to check out log-sawing, rope-making and corn-grinding demonstrations and to marvel at a blacksmith at work.

The old was new at Lisle's Depot Days, the 33rd annual celebration of the village's pioneer roots, the area's 1800s settlers, and especially the town's role in getting farmers' dairy products to the city by train.

The festival filled the museum park Saturday and Sunday afternoons with games and demonstrations, wagon rides, garden tours, a straw bale maze and details about the town's connection to the railroad.

A petting zoo filled with animals such as goats, micro pigs, rabbits and even a calf was enjoyable for many kids who got a chance to pet and feed them. Henry Ferron of Lisle was surrounded by a gang of animals as soon as he was handed a tiny white filled with corn feed.

Children were able to take part in a miniature "barn raising," using toy materials to construct a temporary structure.

Meanwhile visitors of all ages looked back in time through an exhibit celebrating the Lisle Park District's 50th anniversary. The exhibit, on display through Nov. 11 in the depot museum, tells the park district's story with memorabilia, brochures and photos.