The Kutztown Folk Festival

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.

Halloween Hex Sign

From the RanaeArt Etsy shop.  

I love hex signs, to put it mildly.  Mysterious things.  You see a lot of them around these parts... on someone's shed, in a store window, (on my porch), and there's even a small one on a chicken coop two blocks from here.  But what you don't see are Halloween hex signs.  So I reached out to RanaeArt asking them if they'd consider it.  

They considered it and I am now the crazy proud owner of a Halloween hex sign.  

Click here for the shop.

Morning Hex

Seen during a drive...

I Have A Thing For Hex Signs

...The residents of these quiet rural communities regard the stars as something to be cherished, yet perfectly ordinary—an agricultural expression of folk art, and as commonplace as eating pie. Nevertheless, for the outside world, the barn stars, also commonly called hex signs, have captured the American imagination as generations of visitors to the region marvel at the seamless integration of art into the agrarian countryside.

Just as humanity has marveled at the stars in the sky throughout history, and sought some sense of meaningful interpretation of their order and light, so too have these folk art depictions of the stars evoked a sense of wonder in all who behold them. For the Pennsylvania Dutch they are part of the fabric of life, but for those from outside of the community, the stars are thought to be representative of that which is otherworldly, mysterious, or supernatural.

Between these two different views, the history of the folk art barn stars has been the subject of debate for nearly a century, and is only now beginning to take shape yet again as Pennsylvanians in the present day not only rediscover the art form, but also strive to preserve their open spaces and agricultural communities. It is abundantly clear, however, that no matter how the stars have been celebrated, interpreted, commercialized, or appropriated throughout the centuries by inhabitants and visitors alike, their history is inextricably linked to the Pennsylvania barns themselves, and the Pennsylvania Dutch folk culture that built the barns, transformed the landscape, and continues to persevere in an ever-changing world.

Click below for some Hex history and a cool look at a museum display that I wish I hadn't missed...

Hex

By Sam Heimer.