August 31, 2016
Tickets available for Touch of Nature’s ‘buffalo tro’
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The opportunity to experience the ancient American plains Indian ceremony known as a “buffalo tro” is coming to Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Touch of Nature Environmental Center on Oct. 14.
A longtime SIU tradition dating back more than half a century, the “tro” replicates a ceremonial event during which nomadic American natives celebrated their successful pursuit of buffalo, the life-sustaining animal that provided food, clothing, tools and hides for their survival. They cooked the bison meat directly on buffalo chip coals and gathered together to eat and enjoy.
The Touch of Nature Environmental Center Buffalo Tro takes place in Freeberg Hall at the facility located about eight miles south of Carbondale on Giant City Road. It begins with a 5:30 p.m. reception featuring light appetizers served with local wines, spirits and beer. A silent auction from 5:30 to 7:15 p.m. offers a variety of nice prizes and there will be live music ongoing at that time as well.
The dinner will be served at 7:15 p.m. It includes a marinated beef steak, cooked atop a bed of hardwood embers and “klinked” to remove the coals, accompanied by a dinner salad, baked potato, hot bread and dessert. Vegetarian and special diet options are available as well. The evening wraps up with a live auction at 8 p.m.
Seating is limited and tickets are available now. The cost for those who register by Sept. 16 is $60 per person or $440 for an eight-person table. The price after that date is $70 per person or $500 for a table of eight.
To make reservations, visit http://siuf.org/events/buffalotro2016/.