Center in the Woods sets Oak Festival
CALIFORNIA – The woods around the Center in the Woods will come to life during the center’s eighth annual Oak Festival on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 14 and 15, with two days of fun, food and activities for all ages. Held along Route 88 between California and Brownsville, the festival offers free admission, free entertainment and free parking.
The center’s covered entryway becomes a main stage for live musical entertainment that takes place during the festival. This year’s entertainment includes the Music Unlimited Jazz Ensemble, Best of Times band, Rose Brothers Music Emporium, the Steel City Quartet and Sandy Reeves, an acoustic guitarist and songwriter. Other musical entertainment will be provided by A Touch of German of the Center German Club, Center in the Woods Advanced Strings, WJPA live broadcast “Oldies Show,” and the musical entertainment will end with the Augsburg German Band, who will wear traditional German festival dress.
The annual queen-sized quilt, pieced by volunteers, will be on display at the festival. This year’s quilt will be one of Dresden Plate design and has more than 300 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 end of the festival. Tickets are $2 each or 3 for $5 and are available in the Center in the Woods lobby, where the quilt is on display.
Children’s activities at the festival include a giant slide, Moon Walk, games, crafts, face painting, caricatures and Dobbie Lane llamas for petting. The Oglebay Good Zoo also will be at the festival, with educational and entertaining activities for children and families. The zoo will do shows at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Baltimore Life Insurance, in conjunction with the California Police Department, will provide children’s I.D. cards with fingerprints.
Demonstrating crafters will offer several discovery opportunities. Bob Taylor, a Star Junction weaver and furniture maker, will do spinning on his handmade spinning wheel. David Reconnu of Charleroi will demonstrate his butterfly hatcheries, and Stephen Leitkam of Brownsville will show his reptiles and amphibians, including an albino python.
The Pennsylvania State Treasury Department will be looking for people who are owed unclaimed state funds.
The California Chamber of Commerce will have a booth to promote the town and its business opportunities.
The chamber will sell the Cat’s Meow miniatures of the town and the California University buildings.
More than 20 regional crafters will have booths to sell their crafts at the festival. They will provide a wide variety of crafts such as country home decorations, hand-thrown pottery, gift baskets, Amish furniture and porcelain dolls.
An array of food will be for sale at booths operated by various businesses and organizations throughout the area. The center will have its usual bake sale at the entrance to the center’s Adult Day Center, featuring items donated by the center volunteers and friends.
The bake sale is still in need of more baked goods to sell. Volunteer bakers may call Pat Kuhn at the center at 724-938-3554.
Sponsors who help make the festival possible include Albert Gallatin Home Care and Hospice, Arden Courts Assisted Living, Baltimore Life Insurance, California Area Senior Citizens Club, California University, Dar Electric and the Roscoe Ledger. For more information about the festival or to volunteer to help, call the center at 724-938-3554.