All good things...
Last June we traveled to Kutztown for its annual folk festival. We didn't realize it at the time, but due to "dwindling interest and increased costs" it apparently was the last Kutztown Folk Festival. The very first one occurred back in 1950.
Looking through the photos from that trip was bittersweet, as we had planned to return again this summer. Pennsylvania is a glorious state. Its folk art and history have always been a comforting part of my life. Seeing old, faded hex signs on massive, tired barns is as exciting today as it was the first time I spotted one as a child. Summers are like the stuff of Ray Bradbury's short stories. Falls are pure magic. Our winter landscapes of layered browns and grays never cease to resemble something the Wyeths couldn't resist to paint. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
The Kutztown Folk Festival was a blast... a true celebration of Pennsylvania Dutch culture. Rows of vendors and artists of every kind. Music and dancing and interesting presentations under flapping tents that provided shade from the summer heat. We listened to the history of hex signs and barn stars and learned how the PA Dutch preserved their food. We saw replicas of an early Church and schoolhouse. We bought some terrific coffee at one stand and spiked it at the recommendation of an old farmer doing the same to his coffee, as we all moved to the vendor next-door - a distillery selling some fantastic whiskey.
That was the most memorable part. Everyone there was kind and friendly and seemed really proud to share their heritage.
The highlight of the event was a very special "Country Kitchen" presentation of an authentic Pennsylvania Dutch meal (including the seven sweets and seven sours tradition). In a mockup of a hundred-year-old kitchen with a wood burning cast iron stove from the 1920's, we sat around a table with six strangers as our host and chef prepared everything from scratch and educated us on the process and history. Keep in mind this was a very hot and humid day in June and we're sitting around in this hot wooden kitchen, near a wood-burning stove. Incredibly, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Somehow it felt appropriate. There was homemade iced tea made from apple mint leaves, and we drank tons of the wonderful stuff. We got to know the other guests as we passed around plates of delicious food. By the end of that amazing dinner, it felt like we were all friends.
On a personal note, I'm not much of a praying man, but prior to eating dinner, the host had us all join hands and say a short prayer of thanksgiving. It was really quite special, and I felt truly grateful for the opportunity to experience a meal in such a way, and with these super nice folks. I felt gratitude for a lot of things.
Below are some photos from that neat summer day. I made sure to get some shots of the amazing food - that's Moravian chicken pie and the best apple dumpling pie you've ever had.
8 comments:
That looks like it was pretty cool, I'm Danish and Norwegian, so I'd definitely be interested in something like this.
Too bad it won't be happening anymore.
If we find a different festival this summer, I will definitely post pics.
Your post brought back some found memories. Mr. Haunted Eve, having grown up in Warren County, NJ, went to the Kutztown Folk Festival in the late 1970s. Your photos are pretty much exactly what I remember from my youth. I remember my mother buying jars of "bread and butter pickles" and "apple butter" and I had gotten an Amish style straw hat. Another big Kutztown item I loved was Kutztown birch beer (although A-Treat soda was another item you'd always find in our refrigerator when I was a kid). Living so close to the PA border there were many day trips into the PA region, whether a visit to Lehigh Valley Mall, the Reading Factory Outlets, The Henry Mercer Museum, even attended a Bavarian Festival when I was kid somewhere in PA. One of my fondest memories was when my father got a all expense paid dinner certificate from some company he did business with for the Glockenspiel Restaurant in Berks county PA circa 1980 and had a wonderful meal. The place later burned down and was never rebuilt but it was quite the landmark at the time. Another fond memory was on the way back from Reading, PA we stopped at a roadside restaurant called Schell's and had some of the best tasting hot dogs that I'd ever had in my lifetime. I think they were Berks brand hot dogs.
Thanks so much for sharing all of that!
Hi Rot, thanks for sharing all the photos, not just this festival ,but for continuing on after the high holiday! I will always remember driving through this great state when I was sixteen, with my parents in our brand new boogie van . All customized with vinyl and shag rug. I drove most of the way through the Dutch state and remember it like it was yesterday. Town after town, almost connected . Everyone seemed to have an old fashioned McDonald’s with the two arches on either side of the building. I will never forget a taxidermy museum that we went through. The specimens were really done shoddy , real armature.we got some of the best photos posing in fear of the beasts. Eyes wide, mouths open in a scream, shear terror on our faces as we were being devoured ! Pennsylvania was wonderful, I’ll never forget it. Got my first speeding ticket there too! Never did get around to paying it. We were a long way from our prairie home of Alberta.It was my last holiday in my youth with my parents.And a great time we had.Even went to the Empire State Building ,Radio city music hall and up in lady Libertys crown. But, will never forget the Pennsylvania Dutch!
I loved reading that! Thanks so much for sharing!
That's super cool! The old colonial trade pipes!! , and the cauldron, it looks to be copper! If so that's a very vintage apple butter kettle. I have one similar. Very neat place!
That’s wonderful you have one!
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