Also: Art & Craft Fest, Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show, and more
By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times
The Arden Town Fair has been going strong for 107 years in Arden, Del. — and has been a staple of Labor Day festivals in the Delaware Valley.
If you attend one of the special events around the area this weekend, there is a good chance you’ll be at an event that has been around for a long time. For some unexplained reason, many of the area’s annual Labor Day Weekend events have been held continuously for more than 40 years.
If someone attended the very first staging of the annual Arden Town Fair and was able to walk at the event, then that person belongs to a very elite group — a class known as supercentenarians (people who have attained the age of at least 110 years).
This year, the traditional Labor Day Weekend event in northern Delaware is celebrating its 107th anniversary. The Arden Town Fair (The Village of Arden, 2126 The Highway, Arden, Delaware, 302-475-3126, www.ardenclub.com) will be held August 30 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
The well-attended holiday event has many popular features such as delicious homemade baked goods, the Library Gild’s used book sale, children’s games and rides and the antiques and collectibles market with more than 50 dealers.
Other drawing cards for the fair are the food court, pony rides, the dunk booth, booths selling plants from the Gardeners Gild, dance demonstrations, the popular Beer Garden with continuous live entertainment and an art show featuring Arden resident Tom Dulin’s plein air oil paintings.
The annual fair features free admission. Rain date for the festival is August 31 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
If annual events are judged by their longevity, then the two arts and crafts festivals in the Lancaster area this weekend have to be counted as two of the best.
More than 200 fine artists and artisans from 30 states were selected through a juried process for inclusion in this year’s Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival.
The Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival (Harrisburg Pike and the Route 30 Bypass, Lancaster, 717-735-8883, www.longspark.org) and the Heart of Lancaster County Arts and Crafts Show (Root’s Country Market-Auction, 705 Graystone Road, Manheim, 717-898-6297, www.heartoflancasterartsandcraftshow.com) have both been around for decades.
The 36th Annual Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival runs from August 29-31 at Long’s Park in downtown Lancaster. The 27th Annual Heart of Lancaster County Arts and Crafts Show is scheduled to take place August 30 and 31 at Root’s Country Market-Auction.
More than 200 fine artists and artisans from 30 states were selected through a juried process for inclusion in this year’s show at scenic Long’s Park, an 80-acre park in the center of Lancaster. All proceeds benefit the free Long’s Park summer entertainment series.
A wide variety of artisans will be selling their wares and demonstrating their crafts each day at Long’s Park. The show will feature an array of categories, including leather, printmaking, wearable fiber, mixed media, precious jewelry, painting, metal, drawing, glass, paper, musical instruments, ceramics, decorative fiber, photography, sculpture, toys and wood.
The “Susquehanna Style Bistro” at Long’s Park will offer guests a tasty selection of food from some of the region’s finest restaurants and caterers. The selection of salads, pastas, sandwiches, seafood and desserts will be complemented by a selection of fine wines, craft beers and special mimosas.
The festival will also present live entertainment all three days starting with String Theory and the Amy Banks Quartet on August 29. Terra Soul, Irish Mist and Rue de la Pompe are scheduled to perform on August 30 and the lineup for August 31 features the Dave Wilson Quartet and the David Newman Quartet with Tim Price.
Tickets are $10 with children (12 and under) admitted free.
The Heart of Lancaster Arts and Craft Show is celebrating its 27th anniversary this year — and its fourth anniversary as a two-day event. This year’s show will feature a roster of more than 200 artists and fine craftsmen from all around the East.
This juried event features a wide variety of traditional, primitive, and contemporary art and crafts. Importantly, all the items on display at this show are hand-crafted by the artists. The event also offers an array of crafts demonstrations.
There will be vendors with a wide variety of food and beverage items. Additionally, live entertainment will be provided by the Susquehanna Pipes and Drums and the jazz group Over Easy.
One of the nicest attractions offered by the Heart of Lancaster Arts and Craft Show is free admission for all.
Labor Day weekend means its time for the Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Grounds, now celebrating its 71st anniversary, with fun, food and entertainment for the whole family.
Right near the top of the list of the area’s longest-running annual events on Labor Day Weekend is the Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show (Routes 100 and 401, Bucktown, 610-458-3344,ludwigshorseshow.org).
The show, which is held at Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Grounds, is celebrating its 71st anniversary this weekend. The 2014 edition of the show will be held August 30 and 31 and September 1 at its traditional location in the northern part of Chester County.
The three-day event will feature a variety of fun activities. Families can enjoy rides, vendors, face-painting, hayrides, live music, games, food concessions and children’s games. There will also be a number of booths with representatives of groups that are involved in the preservation of open space.
The inaugural Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show was staged in 1943 as a small show to raise money for local scout troops. It featured just 88 horses. Now, it is a very large show with over 400 horses competing for three days in both hunter and jumper classes.
The featured equestrian event is the $7,500 Lexus Jumper Mini-Prix competition, which will begin Monday at 1 p.m. Other competitions will feature dressage, cones and cross country — and over $3,000 in prize money.
The horse show features a number of special events including a country fair, a carriage parade, Minnow the Painting Pony and his sidekick Ammo, a pet costume parade, the Thorncroft Mainstreamers, Caroline Reese and the Drifting Filth and an antique car show featuring hot rods, antique tractors, street rods, vintage automobiles and an automotive flea market.
The show will run from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. each day. Saturday is Family Fun Day and features free admission. Tickets are $7 for adults and $3 for children (12 and under) on Sunday and Monday.
The Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival in Woodstown, New Jersey, is another long-running Labor Day event — this year celebrating 43 years.
Like many of the area’s annual holiday events on Labor Day Weekend, the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival (Salem County Fair Grounds, Route 40, Woodstown, New Jersey, 302-321-6466,www.delawarevalleybluegrass.org) has been getting long in tooth.
This weekend, the well-attended annual music event will celebrate its 43rd anniversary.
The festival will feature three days of old-time music — music that makes you clap your hands and stomp your feet — music that makes you feel good. It will run from August 29 through August 31 at the Salem County Fair Grounds near Woodstown, New Jersey.
The festival was first held on Labor Day Weekend in 1972 in Glasgow, Delaware and was known as the Delaware Bluegrass Festival. It remained in Delaware through 1989 and moved to its current location in 1990.
Live music at this year’s festival will start on August 29 at 1 p.m. with a set by the Stage Hogs. Friday’s roster of entertainers also includes Don Paisley & the Southern Grass, Suzy Bogguss, Balsam Range, Dailey and Vincent and the headline act Ralph Stanly and the Clinch Mountain Boys.
Rhonda Vincent and the Rage will be Saturday’s headliners. Other performers scheduled for August 30 are Detour, Jim Hurst, Grass Cats, the Claire Lynch Band and Seldom Scene. The lineup for August 31 includes Cab Grass, Country Current, Bob Amos and Catamount Crossing, Amy Gallatin and Stillwater, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, The Grascals and the Lonesome River Band.
The Children’s Stage will feature Bert the Nerd, John Flynn, Ari Paul Felber and Michael Rosman.
Single day tickets are $50 (August 29 and 30); $40 (August 31); weekend tickets, $95; senior citizens (62 and over), $5 per day off daily tickets or $10 off weekend ticket price. Student tickets are $30 for Friday or Saturday, $20 for Sunday and $50 for the weekend.
Charles Duryea was one of the pioneers of automaking, starting his work in Reading. His legacy is celebrated in Boyertown this weekend with Duryea Day.
Duryea Day, which is one of Boyertown’s most popular annual events, is closing in on its golden anniversary. This year, Duryea Day (Boyertown Community Park, Second and Madison streets, Boyertown, 610-367-2090, www.boyertownmuseum.org) is celebrating its 49th anniversary with another top-flight Antique and Classic Car Show.
The one-day event, which is hosted by the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles, serves as a showcase for antique and classic cars and trucks of all types. This year, it will be held on August 30 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in the scenic park in downtown Boyertown.
Duryea Day was created as a tribute to local automobile pioneer Charles Duryea, who started building automobiles in Reading more than a century ago. Duryea was making automobiles long before most people in the area had even seen a car.
Every year on Labor Day Weekend, the Antique and Classic Car Show draws exhibitors from all over the Mid-Atlantic region with an amazing array of collector cars, antique trucks, hot rods, vintage motorcycles, custom cars and special interest vehicles.
Visitors have the opportunity to get up-close looks at a number of automobiles they probably have never seen before — cars made by long-defunct companies such as Franklin, Winton and Peerless. There will also be displays of timeless classics like the Ford “Model T.”
The auto show will feature awards in the following categories — Pre-War Antique Car, Post-War Antique Car, Antique Truck, Antique Modified, Antique Motorcycle and Antique Sports Car.
In addition to the car show, Duryea Day also features live entertainment, food and beverage vendors, a 50/50 drawing, a “car corral” and an auto flea market. There will also be a variety of entertainment and special activities for children.
Admission to Boyertown Park for Duryea Day is $5 for adults and $2 for children ages 6-12. Visitors to Duryea Day can take advantage of complimentary admission to the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles. A special trolley will make continuous loops between the park and the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles until 4 p.m.
The Allentown Fair (17th and Chew Street, Allentown, 610-433-7541, www.allentownfairpa.org) is the undisputed champion when it comes to longevity.
The 2014 edition of “The Great Allentown Fair”, which is running through September 1, marks the fair’s 162nd anniversary.
The multi-day event, which is held at the Allentown Fairgrounds, features thousands of farm, garden and home exhibits and competitions along with thrill rides, amusement games, variety acts, international foods and some of the top entertainers currently on tour.
The Grandstand Stage has four ticketed shows left on its 2014 schedule — Tim McGraw on August 29, Hunter Hayes on August 30, the Fresh Beat Band on August 31 and the J & J Demolition Derby on September 1.
The fair also offers a wide array of free concerts at the Music & Variety Show Tent, the MainGate Nightclub and Bier Garten and the RCN Farmerama Theater. Additionally, the list of daily entertainment attractions includes “Robinson’s Pig Paddling Porkers,” “Lil’ Farm Hands,” “Matt’s Family Jam,” “Elephant Encounter,” “Fired Up High Dive Show,” “Melody Farm Follies” and the “4-H Petting Zoo.”
As always, amusement games and rides are one of the fair’s main attractions. This year, the Great Allentown Fair will again feature thrilling rides and games of skill and chance presented by Powers Great American Midways. Admission to the fair is $6 for adults with children under 12 admitted free.
Philadelphia loves to celebrate holidays, especially the summer’s “Big Three” — Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.
This weekend, the City of Brotherly Love hosts another installment of an event it hopes will become a long-standing tradition — the Budweiser Made in America Festival (Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, http://a.madeinamericafest.com).
Budweiser Made In America Festival 2014 will be celebrated in two cities this weekend. Two days of concerts will be staged on August 30 and 31 in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
Rapper/music mogul Jay Z will curate the blockbuster roster of talent, which will include more than 60 artists representing the wide range of today’s pop music. Bands will perform on three stages in each city — on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park and in L.A. Grand Park in Los Angeles.
The August 30 lineup for Philadelphia includes Kanye West, Steve Aoki, R3HAb, Glassjaw, The National, J. Cole, Baauer, Pissed Jeans, City & Colour, Chromeo, Cut Snake, OCD: Mooch & Twist, Big Daddy Kane, Cherub, Mayer Hawthorne, Holy Ghost!, Baby Baby, The Neighborhood, DJ Cassidy, Destructo, BAS, Young and Sick, Kaneholler and The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores.
Acts slated to play on August 31 are Kings of Leon, Tiesto, Gareth Emery, The Menzingers, Pharrell Williams, Girl Talk, Tommy Trash, Man Overboard, Spoon, Grimes, 3LAU, Bear Hands, AWOLnation, Danny Brown, Will Sparks, Nothing, YG, Kongos, Penguin Prison, CRUISR, Bleachers, Vacationer, Mimosa, Misterwives, Bixel Boys and Noah Breakfast.
Tickets are $168.70 for a two-day pass and $106.70 for either August 30 or 31.
