Military Museums bring history to life at Summer Skirmish

The Military Museums whisks visitors back in time with warfare reenactments dating back 2000 years.

A bit of military history came to life Saturday at the Military Museums in Calgary.

It was the Summer Skirmish, where almost 2,000 years of warfare comes to life in a weekend of battle re-enactments and demonstrations.

“It’s actually many different periods of history, from the Dark Ages, so about 900 CE all the way up to the Second World War represented,” said Military Museums senior curator and director of collections Alison Mercer. ”So it’s a lot of people in authentic historical outfits and uniforms with authentic weapons, doing authentic drills.”

While military history tends to be observed in November, around Remembrance Day, Mercer said mid-August is a pretty prominent date in military history as well.

“Something that was very relevant that happened just yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, so the fact that we get to have this on August 16 and 17th is pretty special too, because, of course, there’s a re-enactment component, but there’s also the history component available in the museum too that people can see.”

Mercer said that since the event was launched in 2003, the Military Museums have evolved the Summer Skirmish to be more interactive and more kid-friendly.

“There’s a lot more activities for kids, more hands-on opportunities,” she said. “For example, (you can) climb inside the T-72 tank. There’s a weapons handling tent over there (to) see some authentic guns.”

“It’s not just like a like a watch (event),” she added. “It’s (more) like a watch and do and learn (event) that way.”

Summer Skirmish continues until Sunday at 5 p.m. at Military Museums. 4520 Crowchild Trail S.W. It’s $40 for a family.