The sound of cannon fire this weekend is mixing with the sound of traffic in South Park.

Union re-enactors fired barrages every few hours Saturday from four cannons and a mortar, much to the delight of onlookers consisting primarily of parents and children.

“I think they make a lot of noise,” said Kayla Havenor, 7, of Lawrence, who was watching the Civil War artillery demonstration with her three sisters, a brother and her parents, Warren and Linda Havenor.

Apparently so did some Lawrence residents. Police dispatchers said they received five or six 911 calls from people concerned about the explosions, as well as a few non-911 calls from people just curious about the “boom” they heard.

The Havenors, however, thought the Civil War demonstrations fit right in with the home-schooling they are giving their children. They are studying the Civil War right now, Linda Havenor said.

“We just decided to come on out and let them see it,” Linda said. “It’s more realistic than I thought it would be.”

The cannon fire will continue periodically today in South Park, where re-enactors portraying the Kansas 2nd and 3rd Light Artillery Regiments have set up camp. The camp will disband at 3 p.m.

Three of the four cannons at the park are reproductions of models used in the Civil War, but the fourth, owned by Dave Ryan, Mound City, is actually from the Civil War era.

The artillery demonstrations were just one of several activities planned in conjunction with the Civil War on the Western Frontier events going on this month.

Dressed as young ladies from the Civil War era, from left, Isabel Shibler, 13, Joni Patterson, 12, and Lucia Shibler, 11, chat in the shade at South Park. The Shibler sisters, from Maple Hill, and Patterson, from Valley Falls, spent the day Saturday near their mock-up version of a Union artillery camp. Presented by the Battery B 3rd Kansas Frontier Brigade, the event continues today with cannon firings at 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Elsewhere this weekend, an open house is being conducted at the Murphy-Bromelsick House in Hobbs Park, 10th and Delaware streets. At the house, which dates to the Civil War, visitors are given copies of a broadsheet newspaper printed to look like one once printed by abolitionist John Speer, who lived in the area.

Among those conducting the open house Saturday was Mark Kaplan, who spearheaded the effort to move the house from its original East Lawrence address at 909 Pa.

Kaplan said he hoped the park area eventually would receive a state historic preservation designation for the aspects of Lawrence history that can be traced to the area.

“I think we’ll have to work at it for a while, but I think eventually we’ll get it,” Kaplan said.

Other activities today:

¢ Messy mud fort lesson teaches children about Lawrence history (8-13-03)¢ 6News video: Kids learn history the messy way (8-13-03)¢Kansas Forts during the Civil War¢2003 Civil War on the Western Frontier Calendar of Events

• 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m., horse-drawn trolley tour of Quantrill’s raid and related sites, reservations required, 749-5011.
• 1 p.m.: Tour of historic Lecompton landmarks, Territorial Capital Museum, 640 E. Woodson Ave., Lecompton.
• 1:30 p.m.: “Ride with the Devil” film, Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second St.
• 2:30 p.m.: Paul Bahmaier and Tim Rues will talk about Douglas County being the symbolic birthplace of the Civil War at Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass.
• 4 p.m.: Mary R. Gage will give a tour of the Blue Jacket Crossing, 1273 E. 1900 Road.
• 7 p.m.: Christine Reinhard will present information abut Clarina Nichols, who fought for the rights of women in territorial Kansas, at Watkins Museum.