The 67th annual Kutztown Folk Festival will return on July 2, with the launch of new a new one-room school house.
In conjunction with the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, a one-room replica school house will make its return after a nearly 20-year absence.
The 15 by 20 foot replica will feature a bell tower, old desks, chalk board, pot belly stove and many other items of the era. Inside the school house, festival-goers will be able to join in on Pennsylvania Dutch dialect lessons.
Children visiting the festival will also be able to partake in school lessons throughout the day led by a school house “marm.”
Also in conjunction with the German Cultural Heritage Center will be a hex sign painting demonstration taking place on vertical barn siding positioned 12 feet off the ground, giving visitors a true idea of what hex sign painting entails. The finished pieces will be auctioned off at the quilt auction on Saturday, July 9. Proceeds will benefit the Heritage Center’s Folklife programming as well as the Dutch Hex Tour Association, an organization in Berks County that financially assists barn owners in the repainting of hex signs on their barns.
As tradition of the festival, many artists, craftsmen and folk bands will delight and entertain festival-goers throughout the event.
The 2016 Kutztown Folk Festival will run July 2 to 10 with the following hours: July 2-3 and July 8- 9 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and July 4-7 and July 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information about the Kutztown Folk Festival, visit KutztownFestival.com.