This year's Feast symbol, The Pig Dog, is a symbol of all the things that threatened the way of life in New France during the 1700's.  The area that would one day become Michigan (and Port Huron) was a part of the French colony of New France.  The settlement of this area goes back into the 1600's - Fort St. Joseph was build here by the French in 1687, and it was not the first French settlement in what was someday to become Michigan.  As the years of the 17^th and 18^th centuries passed the French developed a happy life here where they lived in harmony with the Native Americans and with nature.  Unfortunately these people shared the North American continent with others whose numbers grew faster than that of the French.  Soon the French settlers were engaged in a series of conflicts with those who wished to take their lands away and turn their pleasant forests into giant farms and large urban areas.  The symbol of all the things that stood against the simple ways of New France and its colonists was the Pig Dog.  Look for copies of the book that tells the entire story of the Pig Dogs and their conquest of New France.  It will be for sale in various parts of the French camp on the hill.  The Feast of the Ste. Claire is an attempt to remind all of us of our colonial history and heritage.