Oak Festival to offer entertainment, family fun
CALIFORNIA – The annual Oak Festival started as a small bazaar to benefit the non-profit Center in the Woods and the surrounding California community, but organizers say it has continued to grow each year. In its eighth year, the festival now offers the opportunity for children and adults alike to enjoy activities, games, food, music and crafts. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission, parking and entertainment are free.
Joyce Kelly, a member of the children’s activity committee for the festival, said new entertainment this year will include two children’s shows presented by Oglebay Good Zoo from Wheeling, W.Va.
The presentations – “Hurray for Habitat” and “Wild Work” – will educate children on animals and their different environments. The programs will also introduce children to careers that revolve around working with animals.
“These presentations, as our new entertainment, brings a different program to the children in our area that they normally do not get to see or participate in,” Kelly said. “The center of the festival is children’s activities.”
Additional events for children will include pony rides, a super slide, face painting, caricature drawings, a coloring table, train rides, a reptile show and a llama petting zoo.
Mascots from the Washington Wild Things, the Greene County Observer-Reporter and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Iceberg will entertain the younger crowd. McDonald’s and Wendy’s characters are also expected to make appearances.
The Baltimore Life Company and the California Police Department have teamed up to offer an identity card for children.
This card, which can be created during the festival, will display a photo of the child along with his or her fingerprint.
The Steel City Quartet of Sutersville will perform as the closing act on Saturday, while the Augsburg German Band of Uniontown, which performs polka and a variety of German music, will close out Sunday.
Another unique event at the festival is an “unclaimed fund booth” where the public will have the opportunity to see if the state owes them money. The Pennsylvania Department of Treasury will operate the booth.
More than 20 regional crafters will set up their booths to sell their crafts at the festival.
They will sell everything from country home decorations to hand-thrown pottery and carved ostrich and emu eggs.
The annual queen-size quilt, pieced by volunteers, will be on display during the festival. This year’s quilt is a Dresden Plate design of more than 300 different cotton prints.
Kay Gammon hand-dyed the cotton fabric used for the plate centers.
The quilt has a white background and is bound in Amish blue. It will be raffled at the conclusion of the festival.
Tickets, which cost $2 each or $5 for three, are available now at the center where the quilt is on display in the lobby.
In addition to the ongoing bake sale, Liz Rudibaugh, festival coordinator, said food, including home-cooked sausage, chicken, pizza, pretzels, popcorn and other items offered by various vendors, will be available.
“We try to meet different tastes for the food,” Rudibaugh said. “We intended on having diversity on our menu so we would have something for everyone.”
Rudibaugh estimated that about 4,000 people are expected to attend the two-day event, which could break last year’s attendance record.
“We’ve got a continuity that is steadily increasing our attendance, although the attendance does depend a lot on the weather,” Rudibaugh said. “Each year, more and more people tend to hear about the center and the festival. I’ve heard of people traveling as far as Ohio to attend.”
Rudibaugh credited three employees of the center – Jamie Typovsky, Mary Hart and Karen Primm – with creating the festival eight years ago. She explained that the festival’s name is derived from the grove of oak trees that surrounds the center.
“All three put their heads together,” Rudibaugh said. “Although it started out small, over the years it has significantly grown. I just hope everyone can come out and enjoy it. Whether you’re 8 years old or 80 years old, come on out because you’re going to have fun.”
The Center in the Woods, based in California, is a non-profit, multi-purpose facility that prides itself as a provider of the “highest quality of life for older adults in southwestern Pennsylvania.”