The excitement is growing for 2016 40th anniversary celebration of the Hay Creek Festival. The entire event has been restructured to enhance the visits of the thousands of guests who will experience the 18th and 19th centuries at Joanna Furnace Iron Works and its community.
The landmark dates of Sept. 9 to 11 define the 40th anniversary of this event through many revisions, updates, additions and hands-on educational experiences for guests’ entire families.
The traditional events and activities which are proven to be so popular over the past 40 years will be back. This includes the favorite festival foods, all-you-can eat breakfast buffet Saturday and Sunday from 8 to 11 a.m., on-stage entertainment, classic cars and early gas and steam power.
This year’s new attractions include hands-on activities for the kids and young at heart: early American games-participation in game play and how to create various games, early fiber crafts such as learning spinning and simple weaving, candle making, paper making, early bake oven baking, butter making, archaeology.
New activities include grinding corn with mortar and pestle, period dancing, open fire cooking and cooking on open hearth, village laundress and expanded Early Foods Section.
The Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration will again present authentic 18th and 19th Century dishes – seasonal vegetable dishes, roasted meats and various items from the Bake Oven. Open Hearth Cooking’s famous Apple Fritters, Apple Pot Pie, Irish Fried Potatoes, and the Ironworkers “chomp” will be available to taste for a small donation. Visitors are also welcome to sample the furnace “shrub” drink.
Also, added are early American foods including the traditional bread making baked in our early style brick ovens, butter making and our new early American food preservation which will show how food preserving was done from the colonial to the Victorian period. Sauerkraut making, pickle preserving, and watermelon rind will be featured at this demonstration.
The Early American Crafts are now repositioned to be part of the Joanna Furnace Iron Works & Community and, as such, have been expanded and grouped together to increase the way historic interpretation can be more effectively presented. This includes areas specific to domestic crafts, for village industries and for early American foods. Adding to the dozens of early crafts which have been interpreted over the years. New interpretations include lye soap making, Joanna Furnace post office exhibit, treenware at which visitors can participate in riving or preparing the wood to make utensils, and family food preservation.
Each day at 10:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. the town crier will invite visitors to Bull’s Stage to meet the Joanna Furnace Villagers. At this time the villagers will gather in the town square and mingle with festival guests and talk about their lives and the trades that help to support that Joanna Furnace Iron Works.
This year’s new “Creekside Crafts” area is destined to be the finest assortment of traditional and contemporary crafts yet. The Creekside Crafts have been relocated to the western portion of the site near the main entrance. To date, many returning favorites and new vendors will be on hand. Among the unique offerings will be handmade red ware pottery, candles and hand lotions, gourd birdhouses, soaps, wooden toys and bowls, handbags from vintage fabrics, quilted items, unique jewelry and much more.
This year there will be two interpreters in each of the historic buildings to work with guests more efficiently. Our interpreters have just completed additional staff training to make guests’ experiences more rewarding. Visitors will tour the village Blacksmith Shop, Blowing Engine House, Office/Store Building, Charcoal Storage Barn, Casting House, and see the Furnace named after Joanna Holland Potts.
Our guests have repeatedly requested information about the furnace mansion which is longer standing. To help them understand the way the ironmasters lived, a simple interpretation showing the large footprint of the mansion itself and suggested walls will be shown. Mansion interpreters will help define the mansion interior and the mansion life throughout the weekend.
Guests will also marvel at the craftsmanship of the newly completed 200-foot-long red sandstone wall restoration. This wall with its picket fence now defines the location of the barn and barnyard of the site’s domestic complex.
Visitors will find the wide variety of early technology exhibits just as in previous years. Examples of classic cars, tractors, hit-or-miss gasoline engines, steam engines, will be on display. In the mechanical technology building, the wide array of 19th century manufacturing machinery will be interpreted and many of the 100-year old machinery will be operating. The shingle mill, threshing machinery and sawmill will also be operating.
Friday, Sept. 9 is the Hay Creek Festival “Student Day”. Through a pre-registration process, all K-8 students will be admitted at a student fee of $2 along with discounted admissions for their teachers and chaperones. This year students will find many more new hands-on crafts and other activities than in previous years to complete and take home.
The festival will have extended hours on Saturday, Sept. 10 with special events continuing from 5 to 9 p.m. At 6:05 Chris Milanek and Frank Fraser, Classical & Traditional Selections on the Musical Saw and Upright Base will be on stage. From 7:30 to 9 p.m, The Celtic Martins will be performing Irish and American fiddle tunes along with numerous Irish step routines. Contemporary foods and drinks will be available all evening.
At 9 a.m. on Sunday, in keeping with the local historic theme, visitors can join in a 19th century camp meeting worship service just as may have been held at the old Joanna Camp Meeting close by the Joanna Furnace community. The camp meeting worship music will be supplied by Phyllis Hummel on guitar.
There will be no offsite parking or shuttle buses on Friday.
On Friday only, for the convenience of our guests, ALL parking will be in the parking area on the festival grounds.
On Saturday and Sunday only free, continuously running shuttle buses carry guests from the offsite parking area (1.5 miles south of Joanna Furnace on route 10) to the main entrance all day 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Main Festival events occur 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Sunday and new extended Saturday time 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
A family-friendly admission schedule: $10 for adults, $2 for children ages 6 to 12, FREE admission for children 5 and younger.
Free parking on the rear site lot on Friday.
Saturday and Sunday free parking is on the large easy access lot 1.5 miles south of the festival on route 10. Free shuttle buses directly to the main entrance.
Joanna Furnace Iron Works is three miles north of Morgantown off PA Route 10. For the safety of guests, all are encouraged to park safely in our various parking lots and please do not park along busy Route 10.
For more information and Student Day Registration Forms for Friday student groups, visit www.haycreek.org. Specific Student Day information (Friday, September 9) can be requested at education@haycreek.org.
