Mennonite Life will host its annual Maize & Snitz Fest on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the 1719 Museum, 1849 Hans Herr Drive, Willow Street.

There is a fee to attend the event, which will be held rain or shine. Tickets can be purchased at the event or by going to mennonitelife.org/events.

"I think that Maize & Snitz is a wonderful time to learn about both the 18th-century Swiss-German Mennonite immigrant culture and also the local Susquehanna-Conestoga culture, (who were) longtime neighbors, and you see them both at once," Mennonite Life educator Lydia Nolt said. "This is something unique in that it's not just your typical fall fest or farm show. You are getting the local history connecting with these local routes. You get to see some really cool demonstrators and craftspeople. There are fun activities, and if you've never connected with the local Indigenous history, it's also a great opportunity to do that just in a very accessible way. It's going to be a fun time."

Nolt noted that there will be a wide variety of demonstrators and vendors around the Herr House and also around the Lancaster Longhouse. "We will have 18th-century clothing demonstrations," she said. "We'll have Bridget Graff doing blacksmithing. She does really great work. We will have apple butter making. We will have people using our historic bake oven making some baked goods. We will have around the longhouse, we will have flintknapping. We will have someone talking about Indigenous food ways and doing a cooking demonstration."

There will be food for sale, including sausage sandwiches, snacks, and fry pies.

There will also be activities for children, including Indigenous games and Colonial games. "We will have a fraktur activity, which is the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch folk art drawing," Nolt said. "We will have an activity to explore the orchard, and we'll also have a scavenger hunt for kiddos that explores the whole campus."

Indigenous storyteller Barry Lee will sing, and a group will perform songs in German.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to visit the facility's Colonial heirloom garden and the Three Sisters garden, both of which will be full of plants.

There will also be a silent auction. "All of the items that are part of this silent auction were donated by volunteers and friends of the museum," said Nolt. "That will include some really wonderful pieces of artwork, including one from Barry Lee. We're excited about that."

Mennonite Life will display items from its collection - one rare book printed in Europe and one rare book printed in America, both related to the Herr family - designed to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism.

There will be discussions about restoration and the important role that restoration and preservation play in keeping a historic house museum alive and right, Nolt said.

She added that Mennonite Life is grateful for the event's sponsors - Sight & Sound, Berks Homes, Cherry Hill Orchards, S. Clyde Weaver, Herr's Foods, and Dominion Pest Control.