End of the Season

With the end of our Yuletide in the Country tours and supper Buffet comes the close of our season. The Genesee Country Village and Museum is now closed to the public. The Nature Trails will be open starting January 7 and 8 for skiing and snowshoeing. Call 585-294-8262 for hours and information on the Nature Trails.

Last Weeked for Yuletide in the Country

This weekend is the final weekend this year for the Yuletide in the Country tours. And we finally have some snow!!

Our tours are full, but there are still spots for the Buffet Supper. Check out our website HERE for more information on this yummy supper. You can call 585-294-8218 to make reservations!

Last weekend of Yuletide in the Country coming up!

The last weekend to enjoy our Yuletide in the Country Christmas tours is fast approaching. Friday through Sunday, December 16-18 will be the last weekend to enjoy the tours of various Christmas scenes through the 19th century in our Historic Village and to enjoy our holiday Buffet Supper! Call now to make your reservations while there are still opening available! (585)-294-8218.

See website for more details! Click Here to visit our Yuletide in the Country webpage.

Preparing for the Holidays!

Today we are decorating the village houses to get ready for Yuletide. During Yuletide, visitors take special guided tours around the Village and observe different Christmas scenes in each building. We are still looking for singers for our chorus for this. If you are interested, please contact Megan at mbarrell@gcv.org.

Along with Preparing for the Holidays, you can observe more ways that our 19th century counterparts were getting ready for the festivities on Saturday the 26th. You can try making some Christmas Crafts for your tree and home, taste some flavors of the season, and even see how a hog gets from the barnyard to the feast table! 

In other news, Genesee Country Village and Museum hosted it's very first Civil War Immersion event. An Immersion event is one in which the participants are in First-Person the whole time. That is, they assume a character for the weekend and do not break it for the whole 48 hour period. Nothing is scripted, so the participants have to be prepared to react to whatever may happen. In this case, the event was set in Western Virginia in 1861. A local bridge had been burned and the area occupied by the Federal Army. The Confederates are hoping to retake the bridge area. We did not expect to see soliders in town, but we did, many times! It was quite exciting!

Here are the civilian participants in front of Hosmer's Inn.

We hope to host such an event again as it went off very well and all had a great time!

Open Call for Yuletide In The Country Auditions and Volunteer Opportunities!!!

We are still looking for Actresses and Choir Members for our Yuletide In the Country Event.

Young Actresses (Ages 12-14) are still needed for the vignettes that are put on in each of the houses on the tour. The scenes celebrate how Christmas traditions have evolved over the 19th century and range in date from 1830 to 1870. We are also looking for Chior Members for our church scenes.

Performance dates are December 2-4, 9-11, and 16-18 in the evenings. All interested parties should email our events department at events@gcv.org to schedule an audition!

If you’re not a young lady or interested in bring in our Christmas Choir, part of Yuletide in the Country event is a large buffet offered in the heated Meeting Center. We are looking for volunteers to help bus tables, greet guests, and help keep our stations supplied from 4-8:30 on the nights of tours. Help out one night or several as your schedule allows! Contact Brett Elliot, Director of Volunteer Services, at belliot@gcv.org if you'd like to be part of the magic!

Pokeberry Adventures Continued!

 Pokeberry adventure UPDATE!!

As promised, the picture of the yarn in the pumpkin! The pumpkin yarn is the darker yarn while the redder yarn was the pokeberry in vinegar. The light yellow is the pokeberry with lime.

The color of the pokeberry has been so fascinating to us, that we dipped a few of the reeds used for baskets in the dye. A lovely shade of pinky-red occurred depending on the species of the reed dipped. Then, upon moving a few artifact baskets around, our Curator discovered the same pinky-red, now faded except in the recesses of the insides of two of these baskets!

One is a small round basket that opens in the middle. The color is all over the inside of it, so we are curious, was it totally pink at one time? It has a hole in one end and was likely used to hold a ball of string or yarn. Perhaps even while knitting as in this lovely painting of Mary Isabella Grant:

The second basket is a workbasket with decorative ash curls. Here they are next to a modern piece of ash dyed with the pokeberry:

See how similar the colors are?

 So, were THEY using pokeberries to dye decorative elements of their baskets? The color is remarkably similar, and it has obviously faded over time as we have been warned the pokeberry will do, but is it the same dye-stuff? A mystery is afoot! Does anybody have any clues they can share?

Trick-or-Treat!

Looking for a safe way to take your little ones Trick-or-Treating this year? The Genesee Country Village and Museum offers a safe and educational way to collect the traditional Halloween loot!
On October 29 and 30 from noon to 5, take your little one trick-or-treating in the scenic and traffic-free Historic Village. Children 16 and under will be admitted for $5 and their parents or chaperones for free. Over a dozen village buildings will be staffed with a friendly volunteer in costume handing out candy. In addition, you can learn about the history and traditions of Halloween by trying a fortune-telling game in Keiffer House, hearing the story of jack-o-lanterns at the Pioneer Cabin, reciting a Halloween Poem in the Schoolhouse, and sitting by the fire roasting s'mores and hearing stories at the McKay house. We are also reprising a kid's version of the Tent of Wonders in the Town Hall, where you can see various "artifacts" on display from around the world. You won't believe your eyes....!

Outside of the village, you can meet author Michael T. Keene who wrote "Folklore and Legends of Rochester" and have him sign a  copy of his fantastic book. He'll be available at the Flint Hill Store from 2pm to 5:30.

To keep the little ones busy, try several crafts in our large Exhibition Hall around the Great Meadow. For an added fee (cash only), make a cornhusk doll, paint a pumpkin, or tie up a yarn ghost. Try a walk through the straw bale maze, or become weightless in the bouncy house. Plenty of family fun to be had, and all geared towards ages 8 and under! Of course, all children, both those at heart and in actuality, welcome!

Open Call for Actors and Actresses!

Gearing up for the Yuletide in the Country here at the Museum means finding actors and actresses to fill the roles in the scenes that tour groups witness in buildings around the Village Square. The scenes celebrate how Christmas traditions evolved over the 19th century and range in date from 1830 to 1870.

Performance dates are December 2-4, 9-11, and 16-18 in the evenings and rehearsals will be held on November 5,12,19,29 and a dress rehearsal that family of participants can attend on November 30.
Contact Megan Barrell to schedule an audition at a time that works for you at mbarrell@gcv.org

Interested in participating, but not into memorizing lines? One of the scenes needs a Christmas Chorus to sing two simple carols in a church setting. We're always looking for volunteers there! Please contact Megan above if you would like to be part of the chorus.

Want to help but not in the Village? Part of Yuletide in the Country is a large buffet offered in the heated Meeting Center.  We are looking for volunteers to help bus tables, greet guests, and serve food from stations from 4-8:30 on the nights of tours. help out one night or several as your schedule allows! Contact Brett Elliot, Director of Volunteer Services, at belliot@gcv.org if you'd like to be part of the magic!

 

End of the Season!

On this, our last regular day of the season, our final Word of the Day is hyson. Hyson is the 19th century word for green tea. A good cup of hyson would warm you today!

After yesterday's rainy episode, we're now back to enjoying the sunshine, if not the warm temperatures. 
Today in our village, you can try a taste of quince jam at the Livingston Backus house as you warm yourself by the fire. The last of the fall berries are being made into jams and preserves to last the winter through on warm fresh bread from the oven!

To go with that jam, you can head over to Jones Farm to help make some butter from the last milk of the year. It should make up quickly in the cooler temps!

We're getting ready for winter by making warm quilts of scraps of fabric in the Eastman House. You can help us get the word done by putting a few stitches in yourself! 

 

End of the Season!

Sad to say it, the end of our regular season is already upon us. Today and tomorrow are the last two full days of regular admission. Not to worry though, it is only the kick-off of our special themed programs like the Spirits of the Past Tours, Trick-or-Treating, Yuletide Tours, and Preparing for the Holidays events. You can find more information about those programs here.

Today, visitors can taste Quince Jam at the Livingston-Backus house. Jam was often being put up for winter use out of the fall bounty. 

Observe the last cheese of the season being made at the Jones Farm. In about 3 months it will be ready to enjoy by a warm January fireside as the snowflakes fall! 

The Word of the Day is palaver. To palaver is to talk profusely. 

We villagers have been having a Word of the Day contest where entrants must write a story in 300 words or less that utilizes as many of the past Words of the Day as they can. Points are awarded for correct use of the words as well as humorous content. Stay tuned for the winner's story!

This Weekend: Baseball and Tastes of Fall

To go along with this Saturday’s Mayor’s Cup Championship base ball game and a celebration of the sights, sounds and taste of fall, we are offering a special admission price to any young baseball players under the age of 16. If they wear the uniform of the team they play for, they can receive a special admission rate of just $5.00. This offer is good any day this weekend Saturday, Sunday, or Columbus Day Monday.

Come watch the Flower City and Live Oak base ball clubs play under the rules of 1865 for the coveted Mayor’s Cup on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the museum’s own Silver Base Ball Park. You can enjoy a hot dog, cold drinks and a variety of other snacks from our concession stand located just behind home plate. Celebrate a great fall tradition in one of the grandstands in America’s only recreated 19^th century ball park.
Sunday will host another game: Rochester v. Victory at 1:30pm.

Families can also enjoy a variety of other games on the village square. The sugar maples surrounding the square are ablaze with fall color and provide a wonderful backdrop to a great family outing. We’ll have all of our favorite 19th century games out to enjoy including bowling, croquet, stilts, hoops, graces and many more. It’s a great way to spend time outdoors on a perfect fall day.

The women in the village and some of our household cooks have been busy using up some of the season’s harvest for some special autumn treats available for you to taste.   Guests each day can try fall favorites like homemade apple sauce and apple-butternut squash soup made using historic receipts (recipes). There will be a special elderberry shrub available in the newly renovated Hosmer’s Inn on the village square along with our famous 1-2-3-4 cake at the Livingston-Backus House. We’ve even used up some of our herbs in some wonderful herbed butter that’s great for any holiday table.

There will also be $2.00 hot dogs and plenty of cold drinks at the Depot restaurant located on the Great Meadow. The Depot’s regular menu will also be available. The museum’s Freight House and Tap Room will also be open Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 until 5:30 for anyone interested in one of our great area craft brews, including our own 1803 Fat Ox Ale. Be sure to stop in at our Flint Hill Store for the latest creations from our kitchens with new seasonal candy apple and pumpkin varieties of fudge in our now famous home-made fudge offerings. There are also some terrific seasonal items for sale and the new stoneware pottery from the first firing of our new salt-glaze kiln is available. 

 

Meet our final pioneer family for the 2011 season this Saturday and Sunday at the Pioneer Farm and find out how they enjoy living the life of the Genesee Country pioneers in the early 1800s. They will be living, eating, and sleeping in the log pioneer house for the weekend and learning how to cook on an open fire, caring for animals at the farm, dress in 19^th century-style clothing, learning 19^th century games, and even finding time to do some dancing. They’ll also be learning how to prepare for the upcoming winter by stuffing sausages and drying fruits and vegetables.

Other villagers are also getting ready for the upcoming cold season: visitors can assist the quilter in making warm bed coverings out of scraps of leftover fabric, the kitchens are putting up preserves and condiments to use throughout the winter, and the spinner is making warm wool yarn for winter knitting projects. In addition to spinning, the spinners will also be dyeing the last of the yarn Sunday and Monday. See what fantastic colors can be achieved with natural materials! The villagers are giving their houses a last airing out on this fine weekend and getting out the warm clothing…before we know it, it will be winter!

Word of the Day

Today's Word of the Day is cairngorm. A cairngorm is a Scottish variety of smokey quartz, commonly found in Victorian tourist jewelry. As we know, Queen Victoria loved all things Scottish and popularized wearing plaid, kilts, bagpipe playing, and Scottish jewelry. The Cairngorms, or Blue Hills, formerly the Red Hills in Gaelic, are a mountain range near Braemar in Scotland, now a national park, but the stones used for jewelry come from the Cairngorm mountain in the Grampian range located in Banffshire. The stones grow on the granite running through the mountain. At one time, it could also be found as pebbles in the Avon river. The brown or smokey color, which can also appear yellow, is attributed to titanium. The stones can also appear black, and are then called morion.

Dyeing with Pokeberries

Although pokeberry dye is a fugitive dye and will eventually fade, we have heard many reports from diaries and contemporary publications that women loved the color so much, that they were willing to have to re-dye every few years. When we read this, we just HAD to find out why this color was loved so much to go through all the trouble.

We tried a few variations. First was the straight pokeberry juice with the wool yarn simmered and mordanted with vinegar. 

The yellow color is pokeberry mordanted with vinegar, and then baking soda simmered with it in lieu of lime, to turn it to "solferino". The yarn first turned a honey-carmel color and then changed into a brighter yellow as time went on.

Our third experiment with pokeberries is a receipt from the New England Farmer in 1824 that says to put it in a pumpkin shell for nine days to produce a crimson color. This advice was again repeated by Godey's in 1866. "One old lady made a really brilliant dye by dipping wool in pokeberry juice, and then inclosing (sic) it for several days where Peter put his wife-in a pumpkin shell. The color obtained was a brilliant red."

Well, it's in there! We'll find out on the 10th what color it will become!

We also had to do a bit of silk:

Just stunning! We're curious how long the color will last.

Word of the Day

Today's Word is Aigrette: a hair ornament made of pearls or gems, set in silver or gold, in the shape of a plume, feather, or spray. For evening wear.

The Agricultural Fair suffered through some rainy and cold weather, but all who attended had a great time! Thank you to everyone who made it out!

Last Day of the Agricultural Fair!

Yesterday was a bit rainy, but all had fun seeing Signora Bella's amazing shows, Harry Houdini's artifacts, the vegetables and apple tastings  in the Horticultural Tent, and the wonders in the Tent of Wonders. 

All will be repeated today but there will be a Harmonic's Concert at 2:00 in Brooks Grove Church.

There's plenty of shopping, poultry, livestock, blue Ribbon entries,  appearances of the Man-Eating Chicken, and agricultural demonstrations for everyone!

Countdown to the Agricultural Fair!

One Day to go until the Agricultural Fair!!

This year's fair is gearing up to be our best yet and features Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem! Get your fortune told by a traveling mystic, hear a sales pitch from a medicine woman, see a magic show, try your hand at phrenology and try a taste of heirloom variety apples. There's plenty to see and do!

Thrill to the many performance opportunities offered: our Grand Show will be the amazing Signora Bella, slack rope walker and juggler. She will astonish you with her talents at knife and fire juggling all while balanced on a slim rope! Having performed at Mt Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg, she is a world-class act you won't want to miss!

 

For the little ones, see the classic Punch and Judy Show where the time-honored story-telling technique of puppetry will delight them. On Sunday, see the Magic Show at the Davis Opera House. Can the magician guess which card you have without looking?  

Roaming around the Village Square, see impromptu encounters with the Medicine Woman and her remedies. Do you believe her pitch?

 

 

A Special Exhibit at the McKay house will thrill you! Harry Houdini Original Artifacts will be on display there all weekend accompanied by the grand-nephew of the Handcuff King himself!

The Horticulture Tent is filled with glorious displays of the harvest abundance. See heirloom varieties of carrots, potatoes, squash, and cucumbers and taste some of the apples from the Village. Assist the farmer with thrashing and processing corn and find out how to grow your own heirloom vegetables from our Master Gardener.

Step into the Tent of Wonders and you are sure to be thrilled! See the amazing 6 foot tall Man-Eating Chicken, a rib from the Ark, the Shield of an Amazon Warrior Princess, a painted Lady, the Waters of the World and many more such fantastic items.

New this year, you can try your hand at guessing the objects at the Tactile Teasers table. What is in the box? Can you guess just by touching? Our Barker will be happy to assist you in your guesses and reveal the true answer!

Around the Village Square are a variety of tents to entertain and inspire you. Learn how to tell someone's character by the bumps on their head at the Phrenology Tent. Have the mystic answer your questions about the future, all in good fun, of course, at Fortune's Favorite. Learn about the evils of Demon Rum through an entertaining tableaux and sign the Temperance pledge at the Temperance Society booth.

Shopping opportunities abound, whether getting a jump of Christmas, or taking home the farm-fresh products you love, the popular Market Tent features specialty vendors offering  cheeses, baked goods, maple products, spices, honey, cider, apples and other specialty items. Vendors include Abbott's Custard, the historical Popcorn Wagon, Helmut's Strudel, Rochester Herb Society, Kutters Cheese and many more!

In addition, you can purchase Village-made products like baskets, pottery, 

 brooms, and naturally-dyed wool at the Peddler's Wagon, or the Flint Hill Store.  

Special guest Gretchen Sepik, also known as "Erie Canal Sal," will be on campus both days offering a book signing at the Flint Hill Store and performances daily in St. Feehan's Church.  Sal, the cook on the boat, the Saint Francis, is a seasoned storyteller. She weaves together history and folktales about the Erie Canal into a fine tapestry of fact and fiction. In her Irish brogue she will insist that each story is true and it is up to you to decide!  Book is available for purchase on line or in the Flint Hill Store. 

There are exhibitions in more than 150 categories of judged baked goods, preserves, hand-made needlecrafts and the industrial arts—including tin, iron and wooden wares; pottery; cooperage (barrel making); printing; and broom and soap making.

Youth compete in 60 different aged categories, from penmanship and pottery to photography and pumpkin pie.

Among the competitions are those for the largest pumpkin, one for weight and a second for size. The competitions are open to museum members and the public alike, and most have both 19th- and 21st-century categories. This year, entrants will receive one day free admission to the Ag Fair. Click Here for Contest Entries!

Prize-winning sheep, oxen, cows, alpaca and horses will be on display, in addition to a poultry show, sponsored by the Rochester Poultry Assn.  On Saturday watch the goat show and competition hosted by the Genesee Valley Dairy Goat Club.

And, as was common at 19th-century fairs, museum vintage base ball teams will square off for the Mayor’s Cup Championship trophy.

Special performance on Sunday: you won't want to miss the Harmonics Concert at Brooks Grove Church at 2pm.

Today's Word of the Day is Cursed Dear. Cursed Dear was a phrase used to describe something expensive in price. "That chocolate was very tasty, but cursed dear."

Countdown to The Agricultural Fair!!

Only 2 days left to go until the Agricultural Fair!
Our word for the day is bracing. Bracing means brisk "I put on my hood against the bracing cold."


One of the tents at the Agricultural Fair will feature Phrenology. Phrenology is a "scientiffic" way to tell someone's character. The idea is that the brain is an organ of the mind, and the skull takes the shape of the brain. Therefore, by measuring the skull, and noting any irregularities of it, such as bumps, one could theoretically know a person's "mind". It was thought that a "reading" of the skull would indicate the clients character, emotions, and thoughts.

Two of the most celebrated American practitioners of Phrenology were the Fowler brothers, Lorenzo and Orson. They were born in Cohocton, a small town about an hour and fifteen minutes south of the Museum. Orson published a book on the subject, Phrenology, Proved, Illustrated, and Applied, after graduating from Amhurst College in 1836. Lorenzo studied in England and became the originator of a Phrenological publishing house, L.N. Fowler and Co., and developed a "Phrenological Head" or bust which detailed the various zones on the head and their relation to a person's character. They practiced the science into the 50s and gave readings to such notables as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, President Garfield, Mark Twain, and  John Brown, and Brigham Young, the Mormon leader.

Visitors to the Agricultural Fair will be able to learn to give readings and have a chance to experiment while using an original Fowler Head.

Now, the Genesee Country Village and Museum has a deeper connection to the Fowlers and Phrenology than might be first thought. Orson had a wide interest in what we might call self-help today. He was a proponent of Women's Rights, Children's Labor rights, Hydropathy, Mesmerism, improvements in Farming and Industry, and an advocate for marriage counseling, sex education, and also......Octagon Houses! 

By 1848 Fowler had expanded into the realm of architecture as he branched out into new areas. In that year he published a book entitled: The Octagonal House: A Home for All, or A New, Cheap, Convenient, and Superior Mode of Building. An octagonal house, he would always point out, could have its plans adapted for small or large houses, and thus the basic plan could serve both the rich and the poor. Moreover, he had discovered a new, inexpensive technique for house construction which used gravel, lime, and sand to create concrete which could be poured into molds for the exterior walls of a house, and this technique he used in Fishkill, New York, in building his own large mansion.

Not only was an octagonal structure more healthy, Fowler claimed, but it was less expensive to build. He pointed out that an octagonal house enclosed one-fifth more space than a square house plan and one-third more space than a rectangular house plan of equal perimeter, and he proved this through the drawings and the house dimensions given in his book. Moreover, an octagonal house would use less heat in the winter, and it would allow more light into rooms since with its eight sides there could be more windows. It wasted less space on hallways since all rooms radiated from one central hall. A spiral staircase in the center of the house would provide for the circulation of fresh air in the summer and heated air in the winter. Not only would it be less costly to build and more healthy to live in, but it would be more convenient for its denizens than a standard house plan.

Some 2,077 octagonal house still stand today, the most noted of which are now museums. One such unit is our own Hyde House, built in 1870 by Erastus Hyde and his wife Julia in Friendship, New York. He was a homeopathic physician and herbalist while she was a Methodist minister. They had become involved in the then popular Spiritualist Movement which began not too far from Rochester, Their wooden, octagonal house, by virtue of its plan, was perfect for spiritualist séances—since it had no deep corners which could harbor evil spirits during their séances with the spirits of the dead. Naturally, in time the house came to be considered haunted. The building was dismantled into 6,000 numbered pieces in order to move it to the Genesee Country Village Museum where it has been carefully restored and furnished in the proper Victorian fashion of its day. Legend claims that the workmen involved in the restoration of the building were bothered by the fact that their tools moved of their own accord into different places from which they had been left, and the Museum Director's dog always refused to go into the building when its master entered it. Nonetheless, it is a most popular building in the Museum Village today, despite the overtones of its haunted nature.

At the time of this Post, we know of existing Octagon houses in Alfred, Binghamton, Olean, Chautaqua, Freedonia, and a study built by Mark Twain's sister in Elmira.

And there you have it: the connection between Phrenology and the Octagon house! See both this weekend at the Agricultural Fair!

Countdown to the Agricultural Fair!

Three Days to go until the Agricultural Fair!!

This year's fair is gearing up to be our best yet and features Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem! Get your fortune told by a traveling mystic, hear a sales pitch from a medicine woman, see a magic show, try your hand at phrenology and try a taste of heirloom variety apples. There's plenty to see and do!

Thrill to the many performance opportunities offered: our Grand Show will be the amazing Signora Bella, slack rope walker and juggler. She will astonish you with her talents at knife and fire juggling all while balanced on a slim rope! Having performed at Mt Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg, she is a world-class act you won't want to miss!

 

For the little ones, see the classic Punch and Judy Show where the time-honored story-telling technique of puppetry will delight them. On Sunday, see the Magic Show at the Davis Opera House. Can the magician guess which card you have without looking?  

Roaming around the Village Square, see impromptu encounters with the Medicine Woman and her remedies. Do you believe her pitch?

 

 

A Special Exhibit at the McKay house will thrill you! Harry Houdini Original Artifacts will be on display there all weekend accompanied by the grand-nephew of the Handcuff King himself!

The Horticulture Tent is filled with glorious displays of the harvest abundance. See heirloom varieties of carrots, potatoes, squash, and cucumbers and taste some of the apples from the Village. Assist the farmer with thrashing and processing corn and find out how to grow your own heirloom vegetables from our Master Gardener.

Step into the Tent of Wonders and you are sure to be thrilled! See the amazing 6 foot tall Man-Eating Chicken, a rib from the Ark, the Shield of an Amazon Warrior Princess, a painted Lady, the Waters of the World and many more such fantastic items.

New this year, you can try your hand at guessing the objects at the Tactile Teasers table. What is in the box? Can you guess just by touching? Our Barker will be happy to assist you in your guesses and reveal the true answer!

Around the Village Square are a variety of tents to entertain and inspire you. Learn how to tell someone's character by the bumps on their head at the Phrenology Tent. Have the mystic answer your questions about the future, all in good fun, of course, at Fortune's Favorite. Learn about the evils of Demon Rum through an entertaining tableaux and sign the Temperance pledge at the Temperance Society booth.

Shopping opportunities abound, whether getting a jump of Christmas, or taking home the farm-fresh products you love, the popular Market Tent features specialty vendors offering  cheeses, baked goods, maple products, spices, honey, cider, apples and other specialty items. Vendors include Abbott's Custard, the historical Popcorn Wagon, Helmut's Strudel, Rochester Herb Society, Kutters Cheese and many more!

In addition, you can purchase Village-made products like baskets, pottery, 

 brooms, and naturally-dyed wool at the Peddler's Wagon, or the Flint Hill Store.  

Special guest Gretchin Sepik, also known as "Erie Canal Sal," will be on campus both days offering a book signing at the Flint Hill Store and performances daily in St. Feehan's Church.  Sal, the cook on the boat, the Saint Francis, is a seasoned storyteller. She weaves together history and folktales about the Erie Canal into a fine tapestry of fact and fiction. In her Irish brogue she will insist that each story is true and it is up to you to decide!  Book is available for purchase on line or in the Flint Hill Store. 

There are exhibitions in more than 150 categories of judged baked goods, preserves, hand-made needlecrafts and the industrial arts—including tin, iron and wooden wares; pottery; cooperage (barrel making); printing; and broom and soap making.

Youth compete in 60 different aged categories, from penmanship and pottery to photography and pumpkin pie.

Among the competitions are those for the largest pumpkin, one for weight and a second for size. The competitions are open to museum members and the public alike, and most have both 19th- and 21st-century categories. This year, entrants will receive one day free admission to the Ag Fair. Click Here for Contest Entries!

Prize-winning sheep, oxen, cows, alpaca and horses will be on display, in addition to a poultry show, sponsored by the Rochester Poultry Assn.  On Saturday watch the goat show and competition hosted by the Genesee Valley Dairy Goat Club.

And, as was common at 19th-century fairs, museum vintage base ball teams will square off for the Mayor’s Cup Championship trophy. Games are at 1:30 pm at the Silver Baseball Field both days. 

Special performance on Sunday: you won't want to miss the Harmonics Concert at Brooks Grove Church at 2pm.

Today's Word of the Day is cabbage. Cabbage is a synonym for plagiarize. "I like the way that pumpkin is carved, but I don't want to cabbage it."

Word of the Day

Today's Word of the Day is Ape. To ape someone was to imitate them. "I saw that she aped the dress I had last week." 

Stay tuned: the countdown to the Agricultural Society Fair is upon us and more information about this spectacular event will be forthcoming!

Word of the Day

Today's Word of the Day is Haberdasher of Pronouns: a schoolmaster or usher.