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Make reservations at Sturbridge, Mass., hotels,
motels, inns and bed and breakfasts
September is Senior Month
(Sept. 1-Oct. 1)
Special programs and discounts are offered to seniors (65 &
up) this month, historically a lovely time of year to visit.
Special activities on National Grandparents' Day (Sept. 10).
A New England Fall Festival
(Sept. 30-Oct. 1)
A celebration of autumn in New England, with special crafts demonstrations,
displays of Village- (and visitor-) grown heirloom vegetables
and flowers, heritage breeds of farm animals, musical performances,
and demonstrations of the horse-powered cider mill.
Things That Go Bump in the
Night (Oct. 28 & 29)
The historical Village serves as the back-drop for safe family
Halloween fun. Trick-or-treating door-to-door around the Common,
glowing Jack O'Lanterns every which way, living scarecrows and
other spooky characters around every corner, Halloween fun and
games, festive foods.
Textile Weekend: Fashion's
Fancy (November 4-5)
In 2006, Old Sturbridge Village's annual textile weekend focuses
on clothing and fashion, inviting visitors to explore the sources
of inspiration for early New England fashions and the techniques
used in sewing, knitting, and embroidery to achieve the desired
result. This special weekend combines demonstrations, hands-on
activities, special guest speakers, and a close-up look at the
museum's textile collections.
Thanksgiving Day Celebration
(November 23)
To mark one of just a handful of holidays on the early New England
calendar, Old Sturbridge Village re-creates various activities
from an early New England Thanksgiving Day, including cooking
at the hearth, demonstrations of 19th-century table manners,
a Thanksgiving sermon, and after-dinner entertainment.
December at Old Sturbridge
Village (Dec. 1 Jan. 1)
Old Sturbridge Village captures the spirit of the season in December,
when the festively decorated Village sets the stage for the exploration
of Christmas traditions when and from where Christmas came
to 19th-century New England. Horse-drawn sleigh or wagon rides
are offered on weekends and visitors are invited to bring skates
and take a spin around the ice-skating area on the Common. During
Christmas by Candlelight, held on select evenings, visitors
experience the Village by candlelight. Special activities for
families and kids during school vacation week (Dec. 26
Jan. 1).
Visit the
Old Sturbridge Village Web Site for more information.
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Old
Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA, Celebrates the Fall Season
During "A New England Country Festival", September
30-October 1
Specialty food vendors, crafts, demonstrations, an heirloom flower
and vegetable competition, animals, cider-making and more highlight
a special fall weekend event
STURBRIDGE, Mass. (September 11, 2006) The fall season
at Old Sturbridge Village begins with "A New England Fall
Festival" on Saturday September 30 and Sunday October 1,
a celebration of New England's agricultural history as well as
its products, produce, foods, and crafts. The weekend-long event
will feature a blend of activities characteristic of early 19th
century agricultural fairs as well as contemporary activities
and events.
A highlight of the weekend will
be the presence of nearly two dozen specialty food vendors from
Massachusetts and beyond under a tent on the Center Common. Vendors
will include local and regional purveyors of breads, cheeses,
condiments, herbal oils, beer, fruit spreads, marinades, and
crafts.
Backyard gardeners will enjoy
a display of the Village's own heirloom flowers, herbs, and vegetables,
and they are invited to exhibit their own and to enter
the heirloom competition in the Parsonage Barn on Saturday. After
the competition, entrants and winners will share with one another
and with the public the secrets of their success in raising heirloom
varieties.
Historic crafts and agricultural
activities will also be featured throughout the weekend. Village
visitors can enjoy demonstrations of ox-powered apple grinding
(and even hand-press apples themselves at the Cider Mill), musket-firing,
plowing, pottery making, the firing of the Village kiln, and
food preservation techniques. Visitors can try their luck fishing
in the Mill Pond and see the Village's three working mills
the Sawmill, the Carding Mill, and the Grist Mill in operation
on both Saturday and Sunday.
Hands-on activities include making
a clay pot in the Pottery Shop, a tin candleholder in the Tinsmith
Studio, a decorative hook in the Blacksmith Shop, and hand-coloring
candles in Samson's Youth Shop (additional fee required for these
activities).
Live musical entertainment will
highlight program activities throughout the weekend, including
author and songwriter Jim Douglas and Fiddlin' Ed Trepanier.
Story teller and puppeteer Tom Hanford will delight children
with his "Chimneyside Tales," and Old Sturbridge Village
Artist-in-Residence Michelle Tamares will give photography tours
and provide instruction in harvest sketching. At 2:00 pm on Saturday,
Suzanne Goldenson, author of "The Open Hearth Cookbook"
will speak informally about open hearth cooking and sign copies
of her book in the New England Bookstore.
In addition to the weekend's
special activities, visitors can enjoy the Village's new walking
trails, historic exhibits, and costumed interpreters; they can
take a ride on a horse-drawn cart, flex their muscles in a game
of French and English (tug o' war), join a baseball game played
by early 19th century rules, and watch mini hot air balloons
soar above the Center Common. Saturday visitors can enjoy a movie
("Curious George: Show Me the Monkey" rated G
featuring the voices of Will Farrell and Drew Barrymore)
in the Visitor Center Theatre at 7:00 pm before heading home
after a day of family-focused activities.
Food will be available under
the tent as well as at the Bullard Tavern, and both the Museum
Gift Shop and New England Bookstore at Old Sturbride Village
offer delights for both browsers and buyers.
Rain or shine, A New England
Country Festival is one of the highlights of the early fall season
in New England. For more information, visit www.osv.org
or call 1-800-SEE 1830.
A New England Country Festival
is generously sponsored by National Grid, Country Curtains, and
Cabot Cheese.
Since 1946, Old Sturbridge
Village a nonprofit educational history museum and learning
resource has welcomed nearly three million visitors. The
centerpiece of the museum is a re-created rural New England town
of the 1830s set on 240 acres of historical landscape that encompasses
a Center Village, Mills Area, and Countryside. Performances,
programs, activities, and both staffed and self-guided exhibits
and walking trails are open to the public daily (the Village
is closed on most Mondays).
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