Enjoy farming, food, and fun at the 51st Annual Apple Butter Frolic at the Mennonite Heritage Center (565 Yoder Road, Harleysville) on Saturday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Farming demonstrations, delicious traditional foods, old-time children’s activities, and time-honored crafts are all part of the day. Admission is $10 for anyone over 16, $2 for children ages six to 16, and children under six are admitted free of charge.
Watch fodder cutting and corn binding. Help stir the apple butter cooking in a large kettle, try your hand at knotting a comforter, and watch a dog-powered treadmill. Follow the historic processing of corn and wheat to learn how kernels of wheat are separated from the stalk and how corn shocks were turned into food for draft animals.
Delicious food is one of the best features of the Frolic. Cooks will be demonstrating 18th-century hearth cooking. You can eat freshly made scrapple straight from the cooking pot and powder your own donuts. There will also be homemade apple dumplings, pies, sausage sandwiches, vegetable soup, caramel apple ice cream, and more. Take-home food will be available after noon.
Children can enjoy various activities including wagon rides and climbing through a straw bale maze. There will also be a display pen of small farm animals.
Gain a better appreciation for early American crafts and trades. Learn how leather was worked and shaped for practical use. Try your hand at quilting on a frame. Witness the processing of flax into linen fibers, as well as the braiding and hooking of rugs. These skills and more proved important to daily life in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Mennonite Heritage Center’s museum will be open during the Frolic, featuring exhibits on Mennonite Faith and Life, and fraktur’s role in colonial and early American schools.
Handicapped parking is accessible at the Mennonite Heritage Center. General parking is available at Indian Valley Middle School, 130 Maple Ave., Harleysville with shuttle service to the Frolic.
Pets are not allowed on the Mennonite Heritage Center campus. The Frolic is a rain or shine event. For more information, visit the Mennonite Heritage Center or call 215-256-3020. Proceeds from the event benefit the Mennonite Heritage Center, which collects, preserves, and shares the Anabaptist/Mennonite story through museum exhibits and a historical library and archives.
Stay up to date on all the upcoming events, attractions, and family-friendly locales in the Montgomery County and Valley Forge areas at Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB). VFTCB is a private, non-profit membership sales and marketing organization that actively promotes the Valley Forge area and Montgomery County as a convention site and leisure visitor destination by promoting patronage of its member hotels, restaurants, attractions, and services.
