Haverford Heritage Festival Supporting Federal School Rehabilitation​

HAVERTOWN, PA – The Haverford Township Historical Society is hosting the 11th Annual Heritage Festival this weekend and your donations at the festival will help save a historic building in the township.

The festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 4 along Karakung Drive in Havertown.

This year, the festival will support the Historical Society’s important campaign to restore the 1797 Federal School.

Festival organizers encourage attendees to make a small donation of $1 per person or $5 per family to help "Save The Federal School."

The 2017 Heritage Festival continues the tradition of celebrating local history and culture with friends and families of all ages in the beautiful natural setting by Cobbs Creek.

Events and activities at the festival include living history exhibits, live music and dancing, food and a beer garden offering craft brews from area microbreweries.

Some new festival offerings include "Touch-a-Havertown-Fire-Truck" featuring Emergency Vehicles from Haverford Township Fire Stations, axe throwing with 18th and 19th Century styled axes, and the opportunity to help create a large-scale LEGO® brick model of Lawrence Cabin with the members of ColonialLUG, a Pennsylvania Recognized LEGO® User Group.

Here are some more events scheduled for the annual festival:

• Colonial beer brewing demonstration;
• Weaving demonstrations in Nitre Hall;
• Benjamin Franklin & his experiments;
• Robert Hicks (Mütter Museum) as a Civil War Union Army surgeon;
• blacksmithing demonstrations;
• Revolutionary War hero: Ned Hector;
• Native American artifacts & craft making (including face painting for the kids);
• High wheel bikes;
• 3rd US Colored Infantry Regiment (Civil War);
• Colonial era activities and demonstrations (churning butter, candle dipping, etc.);
• Historical & Civic groups.

The music performance line up is:

Upper Stage (by Nitre Hall)

• 12:30 p.m.: Paul Mariani
• 1 p.m.: Alex Fichera
• 1:30 p.m.: Jim Hensley
• 2 p.m.: Every Heard
• 2:30 p.m.: Jessica Graae

Lower Stage (parking lot)

• 11 a.m.: Flag Raising followed by 7th Heaven
• 12 p.m. – 12:45: Danielle and Jennifer
• 1 p.m. – 1:45: A Fistful of Sugar
• 2 p.m. – 2:45: The Tall Pines
• 3 p.m. – 3:55: The Lost Northern Tribe

Parking will be available on Karakung Drive outside the boundaries of the festival and in surrounding neighborhoods. However, attendees to walk or ride bikes if possible.

The Historical Society’s hopes to raise more than $25,000 to restore the 1797 Federal School at Darby and Coopertown Roads, which is in dire condition, according to the society.

The school’s foundation stones are crumbling from the wall due to settlement, degraded mortar, and poor drainage, the society said.

The Federal School serves more than 500 Haverford Township public school fourth grade students each year as they spend a day sharing a one-room schoolhouse experience, according to the society.

It was the first structure built in Haverford Township to be used exclusively for education, the society said.

Visit the Historical Society's website to learn more about the historic school.

Image via Smallbones, Wikimedia Commons