Christmas on the Farm features live music in the barnyard, traditional crafts, folklife demonstrations, hearth cooking, farm animals, children’s activities and regional folk culture at the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center in Kutztown.
Held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the historic Sharadin Farmstead, 22 Luckenbill Road, Kutztown, the event is free, fun, and educational for the whole family.
Enjoy some of the region’s finest traditional music in the schoolhouse, featuring local Berks County folk musicians: the Broken Spokes Trio, Mike and Linda Hertzog, and Dave Kline. The Belsnickel will pay visits to the schoolhouse at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., so be sure to be on your best behavior.
The Belsnickel – wearing furs, smeared in soot and waving a bundle of birch switches – visits children in the schoolhouse during Christmas on the Farm at the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center in Kutztown. (Photo courtesy of Abby Regensburger/Kutztown University)
Traditional artisans from the Reading-Berks Chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen will share their expertise in fine crafts in the historic log cabins onsite, along with folklife demonstrators in woodworking, tin smithing, blacksmithing and more throughout the farm.
Grab lunch at the Kutztown Lions Club, where you can enjoy a burger or French fries. Visit the Sharadin Farmhouse, where Becky Manley will demonstrate open-hearth regional cookery in the kitchen, featuring traditional Pennsylvania Dutch food. Be sure to stop by the summer kitchen to taste Terry Berger’s ox tongue cookies, baked in a wood stove.
Children can explore Christmas craft activities, including creating penny ornaments or making quilled paper snowflakes. Puddin Heartland’s potbellied pigs will also delight visitors of all ages. Enjoy a hayride around the farm, starting behind the barn.
Don’t forget to visit the Heritage Center’s new headquarters at the DeLight E. Breidegam Building to explore the featured exhibition “Healing Herbs and Vibrant Roots: Transatlantic Botanical Traditions Among the Pennsylvania Dutch.”
Pick up a copy of the newest volume in the annual Heritage Center publication series, “Sauer’s Herbal Cures: America’s First Book of Botanical Healing,” by William Woys Weaver, available at the Heritage Center bookstand.
For more information, follow PGCHC on Facebook and Instagram, visit https://www.pagerman.org/, or call 610-683-1589.