Pathways Heritage Day can't transport visitors back in time. But the event can make history come to life.

"If you don't take advantage of the knowledge of history, you're going to repeat it," said Ron Schlegel, a Pathways Heritage Day board member and team member. "We're trying to present this idea of history from a familial perspective. The best part of it is seeing the smiles on people's faces, just seeing families and the interactions of people with each other."

Pathways Hybrid Learning Community will conduct the seventh edition of its annual Heritage Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, at the historic Brubaker Homestead, 414 Long Lane Road, East Earl. The sponsored event, which is free to attend and offers free parking, serves as a public learning event, a community outreach and a fundraiser for the hybrid micro-school.

"The atmosphere is going to be in tune with the heritage of the area up until the 1900s," said Schlegel. "Pony rides, horse-drawn wagons and ice cream making - people are going to be immersed in and engaged in all of those types of things. The homestead is somewhat in the middle of nowhere, so you're away from traffic or anything modern. The focus is on being accurate, educational and entertaining."

Pathways Heritage Day is designed to provide visitors with a glimpse into what frontier life looked like in northeast Lancaster County and southwest Berks County from the middle of the 18th century until the onset of the 20th century. With the assistance of Pathways students, nearly 300 presenters, enactors, craftsmen, tradesmen and military personnel will offer a variety of presentations on everything from blacksmithing to gun making, from beekeeping to spinning and weaving, from hide tanning to antique farm equipment.

"Students are involved, but we have very talented adults who will lead the charge on this," said Schlegel. "It's an event where the adults are the primary interpreters who are showing what happened during those years. People will be talking to folks about what they do. People will be up on stage giving 25-minute presentations on history. Many of the interpreters communicate in first person and talk in the fashion of how people would've spoken years ago."

But there are also interactive pieces to Pathways Heritage Day. The event will also feature contests, encampments, children's activities, activities for adults, open-fire cooking, storytelling, a test of survival skills, a woodlands walk challenge and music.

"It goes without saying how complex this thing is," said Schlegel. "Just as the name implies, we're looking at the heritage of the upper Cocalico Valley. We have the heritages of Mennonite, Anabaptist, English, German, and we melt them together into this event. Around 1740 or 1750, the area was basically the frontier, and eventually people started to settle in this area."

More than 4,000 people from Lancaster, Berks, Chester and Lebanon counties are expected to attend Pathways Heritage Day.

"It's a community endeavor, and it involves many different organizations," said Schlegel. "It started with the faculty and their ideas. They just wanted to take those educational points and present them to the community. Our students become very engaged in various aspects of the event, and they learn to communicate very clearly and closely with individuals. It's a learning process for our students as well."

Pathways Hybrid Learning Community operates a high school at 414 Long Lane, East Earl, and a middle school and elementary school at 432 Reading Road, East Earl. The 75 students in kindergarten through 12th grade who attend Pathways complete their educations and schoolwork both independently and collectively at home and at school.

"We're not a homeschool. We're a hybrid mini-school," said Schlegel. "It's not a very large operation, but we focus very intently on the students we have. It's about having interactions with the students. We're very active in the community as part of the learning focus for our students."

For additional information, go to http://www.learningatpathways.org.