Unique Experiences highlight 71st Annual Kutztown Folk Festival
Ox Roast Tasting – Ever wonder what a slow roasted black angus steer tastes like fresh off the spit, now’s your chance. On five select Days, festival attendees can marvel at the site of a full-size steer being slow roasted as the Festival's famous “Ox Roast Feature” returns. Put on the spit in the wee hours of the night, visitors can enjoy a sample size taste, or an entire sandwich as the ox roast pit master begins carving the finished meat just in time for lunch.
Candle Dipping – Kids of all ages can create their own candle. Starting with a single strand of dry wick, visitors periodically dip the wick into a cast iron pot of heated wax. After a half hour of careful repeated ‘dipping”, visitors have a wonderful souvenir to take home and enjoy!
Hot Glass! – New to this year’s Festival is Northeastern Pennsylvania’s, Keystone College Hot Glass Team. Not only will they be demonstrating and creating one of kind glass pieces in their portable furnace. Visitors will also have the opportunity to create their own piece of glassware.
Square Dance “Free for all” - As part of one of the days four regularly scheduled Hoe Downs, visitors can try their hand, or more accurately, “their feet” by participating in a Festival square dance. Led by the famed Lester Miller and Family, visitors will receive a few minutes of dance instruction and then be let loose on their own as the band and Lester call one of the Pennsylvania Dutch regions most popular square dances.
The Pennsylvania WoodMobile is a PA Department of Agriculture traveling exhibit that provides information on the state’s forest resource and the state’s forest products industry. Visitors to the exhibit will see how the forests of Pennsylvania have shaped the history of the State and Nation. Presented on the Festival’s opening weekend only.
The Festival Wine & Spirits Tour features local wineries, cider, spirits, mead, as well as Berks County’s largest permanent open-air beer garden. located throughout the spacious festival grounds, visitors can enjoy complimentary samples or purchase their favorites to go.
Country Kitchen Experience – started on a trial basis in 2019, with overwhelming visitor response, 2020 will see the Festival’s Country Kitchen expand to a 10-person seat, multi-course meal, and kitchen tour each day of the Festival. Complete with the “seven sweets and sours” tradition, all cooked on a 1920’s era wood stove, attendees will be able to partake in a meal cooked in the country kitchen during a 45-minute historical cooking presentation.
Sample your Way – Although the Festival is well known for its PA German delicacies, and lots of them! An area that has seen recent growth in popularity is that of the various “gourmet” packaged food vendors and various wine, beer, & spirits related artisans. Receive complimentary samples from the more than twenty purveyors scattered about the Festival grounds. Everything from jams, jellies, dips, and salsas; to honey, fudge, pickles & penny candy. And don’t forget to stop by Krumsville PA’s own Dietrich’s Farmers Market stand set-up next to the festival’s Antique Barn.
Pottery Demonstration & Class - each morning on the Festival’s Children’s Stage, visitors will be treated to an earthen pottery demonstration by Pat & Maureen Schloss. Using their foot powered pottery wheel, The Schloss’s will demonstrate the process of forming a raw piece of clay into a finished decorative and functional piece of pottery. Afterwards, adventurous festival visitors can schedule a private 30-minute class for later that day where they can create their own piece of pottery under the instruction and direction of the Schloss’s.
Jean’s Front Porch – After a part-time test in 2019, Jean’s Front Porch will return in 2020 as a full-time presentation. The brain child of Dave and Jean Adams, through the various Pennsylvania Grundsow (Groundhog) Lodges, this life-size porch acts as a gathering point for the locals and visitors to converse in the Pa Dutch dialect (language). It’s a great place to learn a few phrases or join in the conversion!
Axe Throwing – Try your hand at one of the countries fastest growing recreational activities. Axe Masters from Axecessive Force will be set-up all 9 days with their Festival themed targets ready to help the beginner to most experienced throwers.
About the Kutztown Folk Festival
The Kutztown Folk Festival is the oldest continuously operated folklife festival in America. Held in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, the nine-day festival draws visitors from all over the world, entertaining families while providing insight and understanding of the traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch and their fascinating way of life. The Kutztown Folk Festival features authentic folklife demonstrations, a wide variety of Pennsylvania Dutch food; over 200 nationally recognized, juried folk artists and traditional American craftsmen; over 2,500 locally hand-made quilts on display and for sale; antiques and collectables; six stages of entertainment; music and dancing; and a wide range of children's activities.
Dates for the 71st Annual Kutztown Folk Festival are June 27th thru July 5th, 2020.