The Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center in Kutztown hosts Christmas on the Farm 2024, a celebration of the holiday season and Pennsylvania German Christmas traditions, on Saturday, Dec. 7.
The free family-friendly event features live music, traditional crafts, folklife demonstrations, open-hearth cooking and children’s activities from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the historic Sharadin Farmstead at 22 Luckenbill Road in Kutztown.
Local Berks County folk musicians Mike and Linda Hertzog, Dave Kline and Keith Brintzenhoff will perform traditional music in the barnyard. 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 on site, along with folklife demonstrators in woodworking, tin smithing, blacksmithing and more throughout the farm.
In the kitchen at the Sharadin farmhouse, Becky Manley will demonstrate open-hearth cooking of traditional Pennsylvania Dutch food. In the summer kitchen, Terry Berger will bake ox tongue cookies in a wood stove. Mattie’s Strudel House will offer a selection of strudels.
Children can explore autumn craft activities including wax-dipped Moravian stars and corn husk angels.
The Belsnickel will pay visits to the schoolhouse at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Potbellied pigs from Puddin’ Heartland 1st of Auburn will also delight visitors of all ages. Enjoy a hayride around the farm, starting behind the barn.
Visit the center’s new headquarters at the DeLight E. Breidegam Building for the featured exhibition “Carved from our Roots: Selected Works of Marshall D. Rumbaugh.”
Pick up a copy of the newest volume to 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 www.pagerman.org or call 610-683-1589.
