Volunteers Prep for Fort Union Rendezvous Amid National Park Service Whiplash

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site. (Photo provided by National Park Service via the North Dakota Monitor)

(By: Erin Hemme Froslie. North Dakota Monitor) – The third full weekend in June is always the busiest part of the summer at Fort Union Trading Post near Williston.

This is when the National Park Service historic site hosts its Rendezvous, which draws about 3,000 visitors.

This year, however, the event has been in flux as organizers adapt to ever-changing federal funding streams and staffing models. Within the span of a few days, Rendezvous 2025 was canceled and then added back to the summer schedule.

“It’s whiplash for all of us involved,” said Megan Halvorson, executive director of the Fort Union Association, a nonprofit that promotes and supports the historic site. “There are a lot of unknowns.”

Rendezvous is Fort Union’s biggest event. Over five days, more than 100 living historians recreate what life was like in the 1800s when trappers and traders gathered at the post to exchange furs and goods