For the 41st year, the Hay Creek Historians invite visitors from all over to join them at Historic Joanna Furnace Iron Works near Morgantown on Sept. 8, 9, and 10.
This is one of the most unique historic events around where visitors travel through time and experience life from the 19th century to 1950s interpreted at the Hay Creek Festival. The 2017 festival runs daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday evening. This year’s festival promises the same time-defying experience with some exciting new attractions.
New this year, antique vehicle, tractor, or engine participants will be encouraged to enter their vehicles and engines in the new Mechanical Technology Exhibition Contest. Each display will be judged and awards will be given. Also, the Ridgewood Winery of Birdsboro will showcase their best reds and whites. Visitors will be able to sample the wines and purchase bottles to take home.
On Saturday, the festival runs into the evening with entertainment supplied by the “Big, Big, Jazz Band” from Lancaster beginning at 6 p.m. This 20 piece band will be playing period swing music from the 1940s, covering the hits of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Dorsey Brothers and many more.
This year’s other special attractions include demonstrations of early food preservation from the days before refrigerators. Home baked bread and pies will be made in the outdoor bake ovens. Visitors can also see an expanded Civil War encampment by the PA 50th and the PA 69th. A Civil War medical interpretation enhances the encampment.
For four decades, during each weekend after Labor Day, nearly 1200 early American crafters, interpreters, food servers and volunteers have gathered at the Hay Creek Festival to recreate what life was like before cell phones, mass-produced goods and digital technology. The result is that festival visitors have the many unique opportunities to learn about the quiet life and arduous work people endured to thrive during that simpler time.
“We have to teach skills like woodworking, metal casting, food preservation, and sewing to our children so they can understand how the world really works,” said Hay Creek Festival Interpreter Jack Woods.
At the same time, the Hay Creek Festival makes it fun to learn about early American crafts and trades with the inclusion of numerous hands-on activities to engage the whole family.
“People learn better by doing. So, we invite festival visitors to roll up their sleeves and participate in hands-on crafts like candle making, sauerkraut preparation, papermaking, weaving, and quilling,” said Executive Director, Mark Zerr.
The festival will also feature the return of stamping and rubbing stations. These stations are placed throughout the festival. Attendees fill a worksheet with etchings and stamps to prove they visited certain areas. Children (and children at heart) earn a free wagon ride when they collect all etchings and stamps from the stations. “People at past festivals would plan their day around the stamping and rubbing stations, so I’m happy that we can offer the stations again,” Ambre Juryea-Amole, Education Coordinator said.
The three-day festival kicks off with a student-focused day on Friday. The festival is open to the public all three days, but student groups enjoy reduced admission prices on the first day of the festival. On arrival, homeschool students and student groups should check in at the education tent to plan their visit. Students who can’t make it on Friday can participate in the same educational activities on Saturday and Sunday. Throughout the weekend, youngsters will receive a “chore” list which will direct them to specific sites and exhibits. There they will be given certain simple things to do or questions to find answers for. After they complete their “chores” they will be awarded with a free wagon ride throughout the Joanna Furnace site.
On Friday, everyone will have the advantage of parking on site. There will be NO OFF-SITE PARKING ON FRIDAY.
Off-site parking will be available both Saturday and Sunday along with free shuttle bus service to and from the Joanna Furnace site.
The festival offers a wide variety of hand-made crafts for purchase in the Creekside Crafts section. “We like to offer unique gifts and products you can’t find in a store. All of our craftsmen produce what they sell, so you can find one-of-a-kind items just as you would find at high quality craft shows,” said Executive Director Mark Zerr. The Creekside Crafts section offers an array of original items including pottery, jewelry, ceramics, woodcrafts, and more.
The whole family will enjoy the full schedule of on-stage entertainment the Hay Creek Festival offers. “We try to space it out so the child-focused entertainment happens earlier in the day, over all three days and we have the high-energy family entertainment in the late afternoon,” said Zerr.
This year, the children’s entertainment includes Ventriloquist Marion Gehman and Friends, Randini the Remarkable Juggler, and period dancing, in which children and adults are invited to participate. Throughout the weekend, numerous other entertainers will be on stage with family oriented music. Later on Saturday evening, the Big, Big Jazz Band will bring their toe-tapping ensemble to play swinging hits in the style of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and the Dorsey Brother’s Bands. Each day of the festival is packed with entertainment that will get the whole family moving – and learning.
The Hay Creek Festival offers a family friendly price for admission. Adults are $10.00 and Children between the ages of 6 and 12 are $2.00. Admission is free for children 5 and under. Parking at the event is Free.
To learn more about the Hay Creek Festival, visit www.haycreek.org, call 610-286-0388, or email info@haycreek.org. Historic Joanna Furnace Iron Works is located three miles north of Morgantown on Route 10. For Friday on-site parking, turn at Furnace Road. Saturday and Sunday off-site parking is 11/2 miles south of the festival along rte. 10.
