Organizers, volunteers, craftsmen and nearly 800 living history interpreters are busy finalizing plans for the 2025 edition of the Hay Creek Festival, which will run from Friday, Sept. 5, through Sunday, Sept. 7, on the grounds of Historic Joanna Furnace, 1250 Furnace Road, Morgantown. The festival will be open each day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Highlights of the 49th annual event, presented by the Hay Creek Valley Historical Association (HCVHA), will include traditional early American crafts, a contemporary craft market, living history presentations and interpretations, vintage Industrial Revolution-era working equipment, threshing demonstrations, a working sawmill, children's hands-on activities, Civil War and World War II encampments, antique vehicles, a display of steam engines and tractors, live music and homemade food.

New this year will be a performance by magician David Darwin on Sept. 5 and Saturday, Sept. 6. Darwin, a past contestant on NBC's "America's Got Talent," will perform everything from death-defying stunts to juggling and comedy. Also new this year will be featured musical group Valley Vision from Reading who will perform Americana and rock music on Sept. 7. Marion Gehman & Friends will present a ventriloquist act on Sept. 5, and the Hay Creek Gold Band will perform folk and bluegrass music at the festival all three days. 

The Civil War encampment will demonstrate how soldiers lived and trained in the mid-19th century. This year, re-enactors from the Army Rappahannock Re-enactors Association and the 22nd North Carolina Infantry Unit will be at the festival on Sept. 6 and 7. "The Confederate company is bringing their cannon, which is a crowd favorite. People enjoy seeing the cannon-firing demonstrations," noted Mark Zerr, HCVHA executive director.

Also new this year will be a special exhibit on one-room schoolhouses by Hay Creek's Tri-County Heritage Library. A display of an interior one-room school will be set up at the mule stable, plus there will be information and photos of old schools. 

"Basically, every small town had their own little school. There was one at Joanna Furnace, one in Scarlets Mill, Giegertown, Cold Run Road and the Harmony School. And the kids walked to school," noted Zerr. "(The display) will be about the local community schools, what they learned and what they did if the (kids misbehaved) and the books the teachers would have used. We even have some local paperwork, like attendance records from one-room schoolhouses. We are focusing on the schools that were directly around the furnace."

Visitors to the Joanna Furnace site may also notice some improvements to several of the site's buildings, where the bricks were pointed with new mortar. "We did a lime-mortar, which is what the buildings originally had. The (buildings) look very fresh and almost new," Zerr noted. "We did some other spruce-ups and got a new split-rail fence."

The festival will also feature open-fire cooking, bake oven demonstrations and butter and sauerkraut making. Samples of these early American foods will be available. 

There will be children's activities throughout the weekend, including archaeological digs, candle and paper making, early American games, Civil War marching and drilling. Children can pick up their "chores list" at the festival gate, which will feature all the hands-on activities at the event. Upon completion of a variety of tasks, children will be rewarded with a free wagon ride.

Food will be prepared and served by HCVHA volunteers and community nonprofit organizations. The menu will include chicken pot pie, hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork barbecue, turkey and roast beef sandwiches, sausage sandwiches Mabel's open-fire cooked soups, hand-dipped ice cream, funnel cakes, french fries and fresh baked goods. Also featured will be homemade corn pie and stuffed bell pepper casseroles.

Freshly pressed apple cider will be made daily in the Joanna Furnace cider mill. Many of the festival foods are also available to purchase to take home. Craft beer and honey wine will also be for sale.   

Joanna Furnace is located 3 miles north of Morgantown on Route 10. Parking on Sept. 5 will be on the festival grounds. Free continuously running shuttle buses will be available on Sept. 6 and 7 only at Weaver's Orchard, 40 Fruit Lane, Morgantown.

An admission fee will be charged. There will be separate prices for adults and children ages 6 to 12. Children age 5 and younger will be admitted for free. For more information, visit www.haycreek.org.