Organizers, sponsoring partners and almost 800 interpreters, craftsmen and volunteers are fine-tuning countless details for the opening of the 2022 edition of the Hay Creek Festival.
Festival-goers will witness what a day in the 19th century Joanna Furnace community would have looked like during this family-friendly event.
Running Friday through Sunday, Sept. 9 to 11, the 46th annual event is held on the grounds of the historic Joanna Furnace Ironworks, an 18th and 19th Century charcoal fueled iron furnace and community in Robeson Township near Morgantown.
Visitors travel through time and experience life in a rural industrial iron-making village. The interpretation timeline runs from the beginning of the furnace in 1791 up to the 1950s. Experience the sights, sounds, aromas and activities which have long since disappeared from contemporary life.
The Festival runs each day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parking is free on the festival grounds on Friday.
Free continuously running shuttle buses will be provided from an offsite parking area from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
A one-of-a-kind living history adventure, the Hay Creek Festival exhibits and demonstrations include traditional early American crafts, a contemporary craft market, living history presentations and interpretations, vintage industrial revolution era working equipment, threshing demonstrations, a working sawmill, children’s hands-on activities, a traditional four-square kitchen herb garden, Civil War and World War II encampments, antique vehicles, steam engines and tractors, traditional folk music presentations, homemade festive foods, to name a few.
Crafts
The Early American Crafts area includes domestic and village industry demonstrations of skills which were necessary for a self-sustaining rural industrial community through the 18th and 19th centuries. Open fire cooking, bake oven demonstrations, butter and sauerkraut making will take place throughout the weekend. Samples of these early American foods will be available.
This year’s Creekside Crafts Market will include such items as redware pottery, ceramics, hand blown glass, dolls cloths, soaps and lotions, jewelry, woodcrafts, antiques and many home décor items. Rebel Hive Meadery of Reading will also be present selling their honey wine.
Historical Displays and Tours
In the Mechanical Technology area, visitors will see an assortment of early gas and steam engines, models, antique cars and tractors, sawmill and threshing demonstrations and a line shaft powering 100-year old industrial machinery in the Joanna Furnace Mechanical Technology Building. A newly expanded World War II encampment will also be featured in this area.
The Civil War Encampment will celebrate how soldiers lived and trained in the mid-19th century. Visitors can chat with Civil War era soldier and civilian re-enactors to learn more about that epic 19th-century time. Reenactors will also offer a mini skirmish each day at the festival.
Tour the 18th & 19th Century Joanna Furnace Ironmaking complex where Hay Creek interpreters will give various presentations and demonstrations during the weekend in the Blacksmith Shop, Wheelwright Shop, Office/Store, Charcoal Storage Barn & Museum and the Casting House. A 22-minute introductory video on the History of Joanna Furnace will take place each hour in the Blowing Engine House.
New this year, visitors will be able to see part of the Ironmaster’s mansion stone foundation. This past summer the Association partnered with the Kutztown University archaeology students for a four-week field school program. During this time the students conducted ground penetrating radar on the Joanna Furnace site to look for anomalies in the ground and uncovered the northern basement wall of the ironmasters home. The mansion privy was also excavated where various artifacts were discovered.
Once again Hay Creek’s Tri-County Heritage Library will have a special exhibit at the festival in the Joanna Furnace Mule Stable. This year the group will display various vintage and antique quilts from the community.
Children’s Activities
Friday, Sept. 9, is designated Student Day at the Hay Creek Festival. In past years, as many as 1,000 students have taken advantage of Student Day activities and attended on a single Friday. Public school, private school and home school groups and co-ops are invited to participate in this fun, learning historic experience. A Student Day registration form can be downloaded at www.haycreek.org.
There will be children’s activities galore throughout the weekend, including archaeological segments, candle and papermaking, early American games, Civil War marching and drilling. Children should pick up their chores list at the festival gate which will feature all the hands-on activities at the event. Upon completion of a variety of tasks children will be rewarded with a free wagon ride.
Food
A wide menu is prepared and served by Hay Creek volunteers and community non-profit organizations. The festival food includes chicken pot pie, hamburgers, hot dogs, turkey and roast beef sandwiches, sausage sandwiches, festival-favorite Mabel’s open fire cooked soups, breads, hand-dipped ice cream, funnel cakes, French fries, and fresh baked goods. The festival will also feature homemade corn pie and stuffed bell peppers. Freshly pressed apple cider will be made daily in the Joanna Furnace cider mill. Many of the festival foods are also available to purchase to take home.
Festival admission is $10 for adults, $2 for children ages 6 to 12, free admission for children 5 and younger.
The Hay Creek Valley Historical Association’s Joanna Furnace site is located three miles north of Morgantown on Route 10, with close access to both the Pennsylvania Turnpike Morgantown Interchange 298 and Interstate 176.
All parking on Friday is on the Joanna Furnace site. Buses run Saturday and Sunday only from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free continuously running shuttle buses move visitors from the parking area to the Festival grounds and back. For the safety of visitors, all are encouraged to park safely on the easy access lots just off Route 10. Main Festival events occur 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all three days. For more information, visit www.haycreek.org.
Source: Berkshire mont
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