The annual Maize and Snitz Fest will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, at the 1719 Museum, 1849 Hans Herr Drive, Willow Street. The community celebration will bring Lancaster County's history to life with historical demonstrations, educational presentations and interactive activities, and a variety of items will be available to purchase from local artisan vendors.

Tickets are available to purchase in advance online as well as at the door on the day of the event. Children ages 7 to 16 will receive a discounted price, and youths age 6 and under may attend free of charge. To purchase a ticket online, visit https://mennonitelife.org/event/maize-snitz-fest-2024.

Every year, Mennonite Life organizes Maize and Snitz Fest to explore precolonial history and the culture of Lancaster's earlier inhabitants, including indigenous tribes and settlers who lived in the area prior to the mid-18th century. Children's activities will include crafts, popular games from the 18th century and a scavenger hunt. Throughout the day, interpreters will hold demonstrations near the Herr House and the property's longhouse replica to offer a glimpse of the customs, industries and traditional foods enjoyed in the 1700s. Artisan vendors will sell traditional Native American and European crafts, and a variety of locally made, culturally significant food such as apple dumplings, whoopie pies and snitz fry pies will be available to purchase.

Food historian and author William Woys Weaver will exhibit a collection of heirloom seeds, including many seeds currently found in the kitchen garden of the Herr House and the three sisters garden adjacent to the longhouse replica. Both gardens will be open to guests, and Weaver's seeds will be available to purchase. Local author and Mennonite Life member Lynette Leaman Brenneman will offer a storytelling activity for children as well as a book signing during the event.

Students from Franklin & Marshall College will attend Maize and Snitz Fest to present their research of the Carlisle Indian School. Through a partnership with Native American advocacy group Circle Legacy Center, the students have researched the history of the residential boarding school. From 1879 to 1918, Native American children were separated from their families and sent to the school to assimilate to European culture, and many of the children were forced to work on local farms.

For many years, the Mennonite Life event was known as Snitz Fest, referring to apples that Pennsylvania Dutch settlers cut and dried to preserve. After the construction of the longhouse replica, Mennonite Life renamed the event Maize and Snitz Fest to highlight both Native American and Pennsylvania Dutch cultures. "People are often unfamiliar with stories of indigenous people and how they interacted with European immigrants," said Heather Strahin, Mennonite Life's museum administrator. "A lot of people seem to have an idea that this was just a vast wilderness, and it couldn't be further from the truth." In Mennonite Life's video room, located at 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, visitors can view a map of the many Native American groups that populated the area before its colonization.

For more information, visit https://mennonitelife.org.