South Bay : SPIRIT OF ’76

The sound of muskets will boom across the hills of San Pedro this weekend as a group of 70 “colonial villagers” steps from the pages of history and sets up camp at Angels Gate Park.

Beginning today, the Colonial Christian Family Reenactors will turn a stretch of the wind-whipped park into a Revolutionary War-era village with a tin shop, leather works and Minute Man brigade.

The idea for the troupe dawned on Huntington Beach residents Jim and Kim Frassett two years ago after they saw a group playing 18th-Century mountain men. “We thought it would be a really great thing if we could get together a group like that but only in the colonial days,” Kim Frassett said.

The group held its first re-enactment in Oakland in May, 1993, with 16 costumed amateur performers. Now there are 70 participants, ranging in age from 5 to 60. The event runs through Monday from noon to 6 p.m. daily.