Mountain Craft Days to open in Somerset
SOMERSET – The Somerset Historical Center will host the 36th annual Mountain Craft Days folk festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Sept. 9-11. More than 125 craft artisans, musicians and entertainers will be on hand to interpret the rich frontier heritage of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Mountain Craft Days was founded in 1970 to preserve and interpret the wonderful historic craft and trades heritage of Somerset County. The center features more than 125 booths and a dozen outdoor performance sites located within walking distance of each other along wooded paths and through gentle meadows. A mix of historical demonstrations, music and food is available for visitors to explore and enjoy.
Several new crafts will be interpreted at this year’s Mountain Craft Days festival. The Pennsylvania Conservation Corp will demonstrate riving and shaving wooden shingles. Diane Ambrose will demonstrate decorative tole painting. William Hill will split white oak tree billets into strips for weaving baskets.
Tim Sanner will demonstrate the art of powder horn making, and Chuck Laney will exhibit historic ironware. Witherell Sheep Products will also join the festival to provide sheepskin items.
Mountain Craft Days is sponsored by the Historical and Genealogical Society of Somerset County and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Tickets are available for adults and children 6 to 17. Children under 5 are admitted free of charge. Pets are not permitted on the grounds during the event.
The Somerset Historical Center is one of 26 historic sites and museums on the Pennsylvania Trail of History, administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Visit www.phmc.state.pa.us or phone toll free 1-866-PATRAIL.
The Somerset Historical center is located four miles north of Somerset on Rtoute 985 in Somerset. Follow the Mountain Craft Day signs.
On Saturday, Sept. 10 the center will also host the grand opening of his new 1930 Summer Kitchen outdoor exhibit, hand-built from hickory logs and complete with a walk-in cooking fireplace.
Young children, teens and the young-at-heart will find Somerset Trust Company’s “Apprentices Activity Area” a delight as they learn the fascinating process of making paper. Children can make decorative-molded paper designs using sponges and butter prints while learning about traditional methods of paper-making.
Young children can also pick up an Apprentice sticker at the booth to help them understand the learning process of traditional crafts. Kids can also try walking on stilts, examine first hand some “tools of the trades” and sample many other exciting activities.
Visitors are invited to wander the paths and meadows of the center to hear the ring of the blacksmith’s hammer, the lively bow of the fiddler and taste home-style cooking.
With the aroma of maple sugar and homemade soups and pies tempting the taste buds, visitors can see how brooms, wooden buckets and butter were made.
As the weaver’s shuttle flies, visitors will see how wool and flax were processed and spun into thread. They will also see how the stonecutter plied his trade and learn the lore of the professional trapper as the sounds of 18th century musical instruments fill the air.
They will hear the sizzle and watch steam billow from a wheel, as the wheelwrights shrink a metal tire onto a wooden wagon rim. They can talk with the bobbin lacers as they gracefully move their bobbins to make delicate and intricate lace.
Visitors will sample freshly churned butter, taste warm gingerbread baked in a Dutch oven and sip fresh coffee roasted over an open fire at the booths of the Somerset Junior Historians.
Historical center staff and volunteers will also be on hand to demonstrate wooden shingle making and interpret the maple sugar camp, 19th century printing press and General Store.
Visitors may also see the historical center’s exhibit “Patterns on the Land,” located in the Visitors Center overlooking the festival. “Patterns on the Land” chronicles the history of farming and rural life in southwestern Pennsylvania from the earliest farmers, the Native Americans, to the present day.
Hundreds of objects ranging from rare archaeological artifacts and hand-made frontier tools to steam engines, threshers and tractors illustrate how rural lifestyles adapted as the frontier was settled and science and technology radically changed the ways farm families tilled the land.
Visitors are also invited to see the center’s 1880 Jacob Emerick Cider Press. The massive cider press, one of the last of its kind in existence, is more than 30 feet long and was saved and brought to the center from a farm in Somerset County.
The talents of Richard Pawling will be on display throughout the weekend. Pawling will be portraying “Jack Hains,” a 19th century lumberman or “woodhick” as they were known. Pawling is well known throughout North America for his entertaining and educational presentations and is a long-time participant in the Mountain Craft Days festival.
Pawling’s lively, educational and entertaining presentation will enlighten visitors, teaching festival goers about 19th century logging while bringing to life the experiences of those who worked in the forests to cut logs and bring them to the lumber mills.
Long-time festival favorite Rodney the Younger, an 19th century magician and charlatan, will again perform his special blend of magic and humor of Mountain Craft Days. Portrayed by Taylor Martin, Rodney delights visitors young and old with his entertaining, high-energy performances.
Visitors will encounter a variety of musicians playing 18th and 19th century musical instruments throughout the festival grounds.
Visitors will get the opportunity to hear the music played without amplification, just as it was in olden times. This adds warmth to the festival, and the small groups who gather around the musicians to listen often make new friends with those around them.
Dead Irish Blues, an acoustic duo from Johnstown, featuring champion fiddler Marty Faiers with Greg Faiers on guitar and vocals, will also perform on Saturday and Sunday.
Dead Irish Blues play a distinctive mix of original and traditional tunes in a variety of folk styles and will be highlighting Irish and Appalachian tunes for the festival.
Sam Rizzetta, a highly talented musician, will also delight visitors with lively tunes on his hammered dulcimer.
The historical center is continuing its innovative apprenticeship program wherein experienced artisans pass their skills and knowledge on to future generations.
Craft booths will be marked to alert visitors that skills are being passed on where apprentices are at work, assuring that their rare and valuable talents are not lost.
The Somerset County Artists Association will also host a special exhibit of local art in the visitors’ center Community Room throughout the festival and a special exhibit of rate items made from cow horns will be on display.
Food is always a major feature of the festival. Home-style cooking by church and civic groups provide a wide assortment of taste-tempting main dishes and desserts. Ham and chicken pot pie, ham cooked with green beams, funnel cakes, apple dumplings, and a wide variety of other country style foods will be available to try. A specialty for festivalgoers is a western Pennsylvania chocolate and cream treat known as “gobs” by the locals. Homemade kettle soup will also be at the festival this year, so visitors should make sure to allow plenty of time to sample the many culinary delights Mountain craft Days has to offer.
Weather permitting, there will be on-site parking at the historical center on Friday. A weekend shuttle bus will transport visitors free of charge to the site from designated parking areas on Saturday and Sunday. Follow the directional signs to the designated free parking and free shuttle areas. The quick and efficient shuttle busses will run continuously starting at 9:45 a.m. each day.
Mountain Craft Days is sponsored by the Historical and Genealogical Society of Somerset County and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Tickets are available for adults and children 6 to 17. Children under 5 are admitted free of charge. Pets are not permitted on the grounds during the event.
Persons with disabilities who need special assistance or accommodation should call 814-445-6077 in advance to discuss their needs.
The Somerset Historical Center is one of 26 historic sites and museums on the Pennsylvania Trail of History, administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. For more information or to request a free 24-page visitor guide, visit www.phmc.state.pa.us or phone toll free 1-866-PATRAIL.
The Somerset Historical center is located four miles north of Somerset on Rtoute 985 in Somerset. Follow the Mountain Craft Day signs.