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There is an unmistakable bite in the breeze recently that means one thing: Fall is coming (that one's for you "Game of Thrones" fans). Although it won't officially be Autumn for nearly another week, the hot summer weather broke a few days ago and this weekend was perfect for jump-starting my favorite season. Fortunately, so I thought, Allaire Village in Farmingdale was hosting a "Fall Harvest Festival" this Sunday. There will be plenty of Fall Festivals, Oktoberfests, Fall Craft Fairs, and the like (that's for you, New Jersey Smith) in the upcoming weeks, but what really strikes Allaire's as different is that it is to be a harvest festival. I enjoy a good craft festival or town festival as much as the next person, but Allaire's festival alluded to history--falsely.
If you have never been, Allaire Village is located within Allaire State Park and is the remains of an Iron Works. The buildings are original and date as far back as the 1700s. Costumed interpreters attempt to reconstruct life in 1836 and when the village is open to the public, a variety of trades can be seen being demonstrated. It is definitely a cool site to check out; I have been visiting since I was in a stroller:
The site is run by a non-profit, but the people you will encounter, for the most part, are volunteers. There are a refreshing number of young people out partaking in the "historic" activities. The few I spoke with expressed a great deal of interest in history, as did many of the older volunteers. All the interpreters seemed to be part of a big family. It was amazing to see how a common interest brought such a diverse crowd together.
Unfortunately, the event itself was a major let down. Here is the description of the event on Allaire's website. With the exception of the cider pressing demonstration, there wasn't much of a harvest celebration or vibe at the event. There was hearth cooking being demonstrated and the shops and houses were open for touring. However, this was no different from any other event at Allaire that I have been too. The majority of the male volunteers were partaking in a pretty cool contest that consisted of several parts, including: knife throwing, arm wrestling, starting a fire 1830's style, racing to load and fire a musket...general man of the times activity. The contest ran the course of the event and the winner (who essentially embodied every skill of an 19th century man and, if he only sported an epic moustache, would bear an uncanny resemblance to a skinny Teddy Roosevelt) was dubbed the "Iron Man." A nice play on words by the easy-on-the-eyes-announcer.
While the Iron Man competition didn't have much to do with harvest, such an activity may have taken place during a Harvest Festival. See, a Harvest Festival is an actual historic event. It wouldn't actually take place this early in the year, but you can't fault the park for wanting to host an event during nicer weather. Harvest Festivals were essentially the predecessor to Thanksgiving as we know it today. After all the crops were harvested (duh) the community would celebrate the bounty. Historically speaking, a harvest fest would include games and preparing for winter.
The cider pressing was great. Apples would be crushed in a cider press and strained through cloth into cider. Presumably, the cider would be fermented, but that was not being demonstrated. I would have expected to see demonstrations of canning or drying...what were they doing with the food they harvested? While I searched for some sort of natural bounty, it dawned on me...the Howell Iron Works had no reason to have a Harvest Fest. It was an industrial town that boasted, not only a gardener to provide fruits and vegetables for the whole community, but also a General Store (today the site's gift shop) which was the largest store in New Jersey at the time. Items were shipped to the store from New York City. This wasn't a farming community where everyone spent the summer hoeing their corn and fearing droughts.
On the other hand, it's pretty hard to interpret smelting iron, so I would be willing to cut the site a break. IF, however, there were harvest activities going on. As I said before, the cider pressing was harvest oriented and the Iron Man competition was festival-ish...other than that, well...what had I paid $5.00 to see? The buildings were open for touring, as they are on any given weekend, with a bit more action than usual. The tinsmith was out, the hearth cooking, and there were very detailed tours of the blast furnace (the heart of an iron working town) available. As for the harvest festival, there was an over priced horse and wagon ride...seriously, it cost more for a wagon ride than to come to the festival. Not to mention, the website states a wagon ride through fall foliage. I declined shelling out $7.50 for the loop, but unless the wagon was making runs to Vermont, I'm not sure where this foliage was coming into view.
There was a chance for children to play Apple Snap. A game in which apples are hanged from a string and children attempt to "catch" the apple using only their teeth. It seemed to be similar to bobbing for apples, but rather than floating in water, the apples hang mid-air. I imagine a fair amount of 19th century children lost their teeth playing this game when an apple swung back and walloped them in the face, but it seemed to be good fun and the children partaking seemed to enjoy. I might be a kid-at-heart, but I had no interest in lining up to look goofy catching an apple with my teeth.
The most cringe-worthy "activity" of the day was by far the completely modern puppet show. Two girls dressed for some unknown reason in the 19th century costumes were performing puppet shows complete with modern day puppets and microphones. For the life of me, I don't know why they had to be in 19th century garb to do this, or, for that matter, why it was being done in the first place. Modern day puppet show in the middle of an 1830's village...let's see...does this reflect life in the 1800's? No. Does it have anything to do with harvests? Um, nope. Does it have anything to do with Fall? Guess again. What on earth was the point?
I interrupt this blog to give you a rant. Ahem. The garish puppet show theater with microphone wires running from it was the epitome of historical inaccuracy. It had absolutely nothing to do with a 19th Century Fall Harvest Festival. The only people present at these shows were people with toddlers and a few people looking to gain use from the benches. I will now present you with things on par with a modern-day puppet show in a 19th Century Fall Harvest Festival: this guy, this guy, and the people who think the ending of Inglorious Basterds actually happened. Your puppet show makes me sick.
Moving on from that disaster, I searched to no avail for the Music Guild demonstration. There was a distinct lack of baking occurring at the bakery. All in all, this event was not so much poorly planned as it was poorly...created? The fact of the matter is, this was not a Fall Harvest Fest. This was more of a "Hey-I-bet-we-can-get-a-jump-start-on-all-things-Fall-associated-Festival."
I picked up a schedule of events before I left and was perplexed to see All Hallows Eve listed as an upcoming and non-historic event. It seems to be a general repeat of today's events with an added Halloween flair (costume contest and pumpkin painting). More disturbing, however, is the Thanksgiving themed event in November. Thanksgiving was not a national holiday until the 1860s...before then, people were celebrating their harvest. So, Allaire Village has a Fall Harvest Fest, All Hallows Eve, and Our Day of Thanks...?
For a place advertising itself as New Jersey's Premier Historic Site, Allaire Village needs to take a crash course in American History. It is truly maddening to see a place with so much potential gone to waste...more heartbreaking, however, is the amount of dedicated people whose efforts are going to waste. The volunteers were absolutely wonderful. They were all passionate about what they were doing and more than happy to interact with the public. So much unused potential...what a disappointment!
If Allaire Village is New Jersey's Premier Historic Site, the state ought to be ashamed of itself.
If you have never been, Allaire Village is located within Allaire State Park and is the remains of an Iron Works. The buildings are original and date as far back as the 1700s. Costumed interpreters attempt to reconstruct life in 1836 and when the village is open to the public, a variety of trades can be seen being demonstrated. It is definitely a cool site to check out; I have been visiting since I was in a stroller:
 |
| Aw, look how cute I was! |
Unfortunately, the event itself was a major let down. Here is the description of the event on Allaire's website. With the exception of the cider pressing demonstration, there wasn't much of a harvest celebration or vibe at the event. There was hearth cooking being demonstrated and the shops and houses were open for touring. However, this was no different from any other event at Allaire that I have been too. The majority of the male volunteers were partaking in a pretty cool contest that consisted of several parts, including: knife throwing, arm wrestling, starting a fire 1830's style, racing to load and fire a musket...general man of the times activity. The contest ran the course of the event and the winner (who essentially embodied every skill of an 19th century man and, if he only sported an epic moustache, would bear an uncanny resemblance to a skinny Teddy Roosevelt) was dubbed the "Iron Man." A nice play on words by the easy-on-the-eyes-announcer.
While the Iron Man competition didn't have much to do with harvest, such an activity may have taken place during a Harvest Festival. See, a Harvest Festival is an actual historic event. It wouldn't actually take place this early in the year, but you can't fault the park for wanting to host an event during nicer weather. Harvest Festivals were essentially the predecessor to Thanksgiving as we know it today. After all the crops were harvested (duh) the community would celebrate the bounty. Historically speaking, a harvest fest would include games and preparing for winter.
The cider pressing was great. Apples would be crushed in a cider press and strained through cloth into cider. Presumably, the cider would be fermented, but that was not being demonstrated. I would have expected to see demonstrations of canning or drying...what were they doing with the food they harvested? While I searched for some sort of natural bounty, it dawned on me...the Howell Iron Works had no reason to have a Harvest Fest. It was an industrial town that boasted, not only a gardener to provide fruits and vegetables for the whole community, but also a General Store (today the site's gift shop) which was the largest store in New Jersey at the time. Items were shipped to the store from New York City. This wasn't a farming community where everyone spent the summer hoeing their corn and fearing droughts.
On the other hand, it's pretty hard to interpret smelting iron, so I would be willing to cut the site a break. IF, however, there were harvest activities going on. As I said before, the cider pressing was harvest oriented and the Iron Man competition was festival-ish...other than that, well...what had I paid $5.00 to see? The buildings were open for touring, as they are on any given weekend, with a bit more action than usual. The tinsmith was out, the hearth cooking, and there were very detailed tours of the blast furnace (the heart of an iron working town) available. As for the harvest festival, there was an over priced horse and wagon ride...seriously, it cost more for a wagon ride than to come to the festival. Not to mention, the website states a wagon ride through fall foliage. I declined shelling out $7.50 for the loop, but unless the wagon was making runs to Vermont, I'm not sure where this foliage was coming into view.
There was a chance for children to play Apple Snap. A game in which apples are hanged from a string and children attempt to "catch" the apple using only their teeth. It seemed to be similar to bobbing for apples, but rather than floating in water, the apples hang mid-air. I imagine a fair amount of 19th century children lost their teeth playing this game when an apple swung back and walloped them in the face, but it seemed to be good fun and the children partaking seemed to enjoy. I might be a kid-at-heart, but I had no interest in lining up to look goofy catching an apple with my teeth.
The most cringe-worthy "activity" of the day was by far the completely modern puppet show. Two girls dressed for some unknown reason in the 19th century costumes were performing puppet shows complete with modern day puppets and microphones. For the life of me, I don't know why they had to be in 19th century garb to do this, or, for that matter, why it was being done in the first place. Modern day puppet show in the middle of an 1830's village...let's see...does this reflect life in the 1800's? No. Does it have anything to do with harvests? Um, nope. Does it have anything to do with Fall? Guess again. What on earth was the point?
I interrupt this blog to give you a rant. Ahem. The garish puppet show theater with microphone wires running from it was the epitome of historical inaccuracy. It had absolutely nothing to do with a 19th Century Fall Harvest Festival. The only people present at these shows were people with toddlers and a few people looking to gain use from the benches. I will now present you with things on par with a modern-day puppet show in a 19th Century Fall Harvest Festival: this guy, this guy, and the people who think the ending of Inglorious Basterds actually happened. Your puppet show makes me sick.
Moving on from that disaster, I searched to no avail for the Music Guild demonstration. There was a distinct lack of baking occurring at the bakery. All in all, this event was not so much poorly planned as it was poorly...created? The fact of the matter is, this was not a Fall Harvest Fest. This was more of a "Hey-I-bet-we-can-get-a-jump-start-on-all-things-Fall-associated-Festival."
I picked up a schedule of events before I left and was perplexed to see All Hallows Eve listed as an upcoming and non-historic event. It seems to be a general repeat of today's events with an added Halloween flair (costume contest and pumpkin painting). More disturbing, however, is the Thanksgiving themed event in November. Thanksgiving was not a national holiday until the 1860s...before then, people were celebrating their harvest. So, Allaire Village has a Fall Harvest Fest, All Hallows Eve, and Our Day of Thanks...?
For a place advertising itself as New Jersey's Premier Historic Site, Allaire Village needs to take a crash course in American History. It is truly maddening to see a place with so much potential gone to waste...more heartbreaking, however, is the amount of dedicated people whose efforts are going to waste. The volunteers were absolutely wonderful. They were all passionate about what they were doing and more than happy to interact with the public. So much unused potential...what a disappointment!
If Allaire Village is New Jersey's Premier Historic Site, the state ought to be ashamed of itself.
At least the cider pressing was successful, and the like! I'm not sure if historical authenticity has ever been Allaire's prerogative... it's a Disney-fied version of the Industrial Era. :-)
ReplyDeleteAfter last years warm weather, and bees that found their way to the pitchers, and barrels/boxes of apples & not getting a chance to see the cider press demonstration-I'm glad you agree it was a success this year- or at least say it was a better demonstration from the previous year.
ReplyDeleteThe cider pressing was successful. As you stated though, it was an improvement from last year where nature interfered. In 1836, if bees and heat occured during cider pressing, what would the people of the time do? Furthermore, what, exactly was different from last year's event besides the militia contest?
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