Gruber Wagon Works - Berks Heritage Center

Gruber Wagon Works, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

The Berks Heritage Festival was the reason to get out on a beautiful fall day.

A beautiful venue along the Tulpehocken Creek was the back drop for numerous crafters, food, entertainment, historians and tours of the Canal Building and Gruber Wagon Works.

Free admission with a $5 parking donation was the entrance fee.

New Hope Train

New Hope Train, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

The growing New Hope Arts Festival, held in late September, has moved up the hill to the large school parking lot where it can accommodate the large number of artists and shoppers.

Most people also meander down the hill to walk the town and explore the ecclectic shops and diverse food choices.

Saw Mill Demonstration - Hay Creek Festival

saw mill demonstration, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

More attractions at the festival are the old saw mill and wood working shop.

Belt-driven machines are attached to old tractors fitted with drive wheels to power the machinery.

Civil War Letter - Hay Creek Festival

Civil War Letter, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

The Civil War Encampment is a popular attraction at the Hay Creek Festival at Historic Joanna Furnace.

Knowlegable historians dressed in early American clothes are everywhere during this festival.

Highly skilled crafters show and sell their wares.

Hot Peppers - Bowers Chile Pepper Festival

Hot Peppers, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

A really cool and wildly popular event occurs in early September in the park in the little town of Bowers.

Easily 50 vendors booths with the common theme of chile peppers offer their unique products. The originality and amazing flazors to sample (and purchase) make this a very memorable event.

The subtle heat of chile peppers recipes is truly enjoyable while the uncomfortably hot peppers are rare and clearly marked for the more adverntuous.

Joanna Furnace World War Two Weekend

camp site, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

Another must see event at Joanna Furnace is the WWII weekend held July 20th.

A wonderful tribute by reenactors and even a few living verterans were there with memorabilia and great stories.

Exceptionl food, vendors and a large collection of period military vehicles and classic cars filled the grounds for the hundreds of fans in attendance.

Wings and Wheels - Golden Age Air Museum

IMG_9152, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

I believe the sweltering hot weekend hurt the attendance of this unique and fun event.

WW reenactors had encampments. Classic cars showed up and many bi-planes flew in for the festival.

Probably 30 plus airplanes, many quite old, parked on the field for close inspection and some were available for rides.

Food trucks and live entertainment were also available for enjoyment.

Located in Bethel PA, the Golden Age Air Museum had some wonderful airplane models and a few outdoor hangers had fullsize planes being reconditioned.

Ring Toss at Community Days - Shillington

ring toss, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

A hugely popular mid-summer event at the Governor Mifflin school campus, this carnival has something for everyone.

There is a quarter mile midway with the typical games as barkers try to lure the spectators with promises of grand prizes.

Rows of food carts are wildly popular with trendy food choices as well as the countless fair food staples.

A variety of high priced rides avail for all ages.

Kutztown Folk Festival - Farmall

antique tractor, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

In its 65th year, the Kutztown Folk Festival is the folklife festival in America.

Celebrating the Pennsylvania Dutch (aka German) Culture, it attracts 150,000 visitors a year.

Wonderful German cuisine and skilled crafters line fairgrounds. Rides, live entertainment, animals, games and shopping offer something for everyone.

Street Performers - Art on the Avenue

street performers, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

Most of Penn Ave. in West Reading was the venue for the 19th Art of the Avenue festival.
A much larger presence of artists and the street performers made this event bigger and better than ever.

Living Fountain - PIFA Festival

Living Fountain, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

Philadelphia Institute of Fine Arts (PIFA) Festival took over Broad St (aka Avenue of the Arts).

My favorite street performer was the "living fountain". Accompanied by classical music, she slowly and gracefully posed with the fountains of water.

Naturally the street was full of entertainment like acrobats, musicians, costumed actors, Rockin Robot, animated dinosaurs and amusement rides.

Sakura Festival - Tamagawa University

Tamagawa University, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

The Horticultural Center in Fairmount Park is the destination for the Sakura or Cherry Blossom Festival.

Ideally, the hundreds of cherry and magnolia trees will be in bloom making the setting surreal and spectacular.

With the blossoms at peak and temps in the 60's, people swarmed the venue for a taste of Japanese culture and entertainment.

I believe the festival crowds exceeded all expectations, especially for food vendors, which were literally running out by mid afternoon. (Note to self, bring extra water and a picnic lunch next year.)

PA Farm Show Sheep

sheep, originally uploaded by Mike Roush Photography - Berks Awhile.

A can't miss event in early January is the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Celebrating it's 97th year, it literally offers something for everybody. Entertainment, animals, shopping, food, equipment, and the arts all well represented. I always come away with renewed pride in being a Pennsylvanian.

These sheep recently were sheared, so they get to wear stylish spandex. In addition to sheep, pigs, cows, horses, rabbits, chickens and ducks were all on display and judged.

We went on what is probably the busiest day, the first Saturday so crowds were everywhere. Go early and stay late so you can see everything on the agenda. Every day offers something different to enjoy so multiple visits would be ideal.

Long chili's - Bowers Chili Pepper Festival

Long chili's, originally uploaded by BerksAwhile - Mike Roush Photography.

The 17th annual Bowers Chili Pepper Festival was a fantastic event for pepper enthusiasts, located in Bowers Park in northern Berks County.

The 50+ vendors have found dozens of ways to infuse, accent and dominate normally heat-less foods with heated varieties. Their culinary creations constantly surprised and thrilled all the lucky folks having samples.

1934 Cadillac LaSalle - Sunbury Riverfest

1934 Cadillac LaSalle, originally uploaded by BerksAwhile - Mike Roush Photography.

The Annual Riverfest in Sunbury epitomizes the small town festival.

Normal fair food concessions lined Front St, while classic cars lining Market St. The renovated Cameron Park hosted bands in the gazebo.

The finale of the event was the wildly popular cardboard boat on the River christening the new river front amphitheater.

Chevy Bel Air - St Johns Car Show

Bel Air - St Johns Car Show, originally uploaded by BerksAwhile - Mike Roush Photography.

I believe this was the 3rd year for the St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church classic car show. This show has such diversity in the type of cars present. Probably spanning 100 model years, from Ford Model T's to late model Corvettes and Mustangs this should be interesting to many.

The grove where it's held is probably perfect, with plenty of shady places as well as open fields depending on your exhibiting preference. By the way, the food, starting with the pig roast is great and nearly all the desserts are home made.

This orange and white Chevy Bel Air might be one of my favorite cars. While chatting with the older gentlemen owner, we discuss the cars features and authenticity of the restoration. Coincidentally, there is the same color coupe 1200 miles away staged in front of the I Paparazzi Ristorante in South Beach Miami.

Air Show Penn Valley Airport

Air Show, originally uploaded by Berks_Awhile.

On a hot July day, the air was filled with the sights and sounds of classic propeller planes.

What a great show the little Penn Valley Airport in Selinsgrove, PA hosted.

Great planes, period encampments, delicious food and customer friendly conditions make this a must see if they choose to do it again.

Water toting golf carts were canvassing the vast infield selling water for $1 a bottle. With temps near 100, these "angels of mercy" were so appreciated.

Mouns Jones Festival

Old Morlatton Village in Douglasville was the site of the annual Mouns Jones County Fair and Harvest Festival.

Period dressed volunteers demonstrated how life might have been almost 300 years. A fundraising auction was on-going while crafters offered their wares and the Boy Scouts were selling home made food.

In the Mouns Jones house, bonnet-wearing women were demonstrating how they used to cook pies over an open fire and bake bread in the bee hive oven.

One of the highlights of the day for me was the Historic Preservation Trust opened up the old George Douglas Mansion for tours. It was very cool seeing and learning about the work-in-progress of rehabbing a piece of history.

You could see the impact of generations of dwellers on the building from additions, to the retrofitted 60+ year old electric wiring and fixtures. Layers, of peeling paint, wallpaper, and various levels of floor coverings uncovered the styles of the past inhabitants.

Hay Creek Festival (One Dry Day)

Hay Creek Festival had one sunny day out of three. The grounds had some muddy patches so they did a great job sopping up them up with coincidentally, hay.

The usual cast of period demonstrations were present with some new ones and a few missing regulars, but overall it seemed bigger and better then ever. I liked the glass blowers, saw mill, iron master store, civil war encampment, antique tractors and cars.

The food is a big draw and dozen's of organizations and 100's of volunteers were cheerfully dishing out their homemade specialties. I happily left with two quarts of wood fired black kettle soups.

Plenty to do for kids too with strategically placed learning stations.

Still a can't miss event. The kid-oriented Apple Festival is coming October 10, 2009, 7A-3P.

Keystone Balloon Festival (Bird In Hand)

I've never been to a balloon festival and always wanted to experience, so when I learned of the Keystone Balloon Festival in Bird in Hand was coming to the area I put it on the calendar.

I presume the scheduled Fri and Sat launches were cancelled due to the rain so when the forecast was decent, I trekked out at 5:30 AM Sunday morning so I could catch the 6:30 sunrise launch.

Too bad the weather probably ruined the full schedule of activities, at least they had one pristine morning for the launch.

Six balloons were launched and I was shocked at the size/volume differences due to the size of the baskets attached. Some baskets could accommodate, what looked like 10 people, other baskets would be crowded with 4 people.

I think the coolest sight was at pre-dawn when they fired up the giant propane flames which illuminated the entire inside of the translucent balloons. Three giant silhouettes turned into back lit logos.

I know that they are safe, but the process firing a foot diameter by 12 foot long propane flame in a thin cloth bag does seem potentially dangerous.

However, I can imagine that the floating sensation over gorgeous Lancaster County farm land trumps the minimal risk.