CATALDO - The good news is cotton is more available than it used to be in the northern U.S.

Back in the day around here, people's clothes were more likely made of wool, which is less than ideal on a hot summer day like Sunday.

That was just one thing people could have learned during the annual Historic Skills Fair at the Cataldo Mission, which ran Saturday and Sunday.

Jerry and Denise Short, of Twin Lakes Village, brought their children to the Skills Fair 22 years ago. Feeling nostalgic, they brought two grandchildren out to the event Sunday.

"It's fun to expose them to some history, to see what it was like to live in this area years ago," Jerry Short said. "There's a lot of history in this river valley."

History buffs Malcolm Haworth and Megan Martens, both of Spokane, brought two friends (one from Los Angeles) out to see the oldest building in Idaho.

"We didn't even know this event was happening," said Haworth. "It's good."

Nearby a replica mountain Howitzer cannon blasted, adding to the historic atmosphere.

John Thompson, of Spokane, was dressed in an all-wool army uniform similar to those worn in the 1880s.

"Everyone's more excited about the cannon than anything else here," Thompson said. "It's the cannon that brings everyone around."

He set up an army camp there to show visitors the equipment soldiers during the 1880s would have used at Fort Sherman or Fort Spokane. He's been coming out to the Old Mission State Park, located 26 miles east of Coeur d'Alene just off Interstate 90, for the event for 23 years.

What skills was he teaching?

"What to do in an emergency," he said. "How to prepare themselves for war."

Charlotte Magone of Libby, Mont., and Sabrina Murphy of Post Falls were there showing people how to spin wool into yarn using spinning wheels and drop spindles.

"It's very relaxing," Murphy said.

Making clothing material such as wool yarn did take time, they said.

"So you can understand why people back then might have had only one or two outfits," Murphy said.

They both wore old-fashioned dresses.

Joy Irving, of Moscow, was making bobbin lace on a roller pillow.

"It's just cross, twist and cross," she said, demonstrating the movement of the bobbins.

The lace made could be added to clothing, curtains or to frame a picture, or anything that could benefit from a little lace, she said.

She enjoys the process.

"I just find that it's very restful," she said.

She came to the skills event in hopes of inspiring others to continue the trade.

"It would be nice if they wanted to do it," she said.