Member Event
Woodsmen's Festival at Hanford Mills Museum – 2018
Sunday, October 14, 2018
10:00 to 16:00
Hanford Mills Museum, 51 County Highway 12, East Meredith, New York 13757
Fall Festival showcases logging, sawing and woodworking history
Come see the axes fly! The Woodsmen’s Club from the SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill returns to Hanford Mills to demonstrate cross-cut sawing, overhand and underhand chop, ax throwing and other lumberjack skills. The speed and precision of these talented college students is amazing to watch. The day of fall fun features woodworking demonstrations, exhibits by forest and woodworking organizations, food. music, kids’ activities, local vendors, and Mill demonstrations.
“The first mill was built on this site in 1846,” says Museum executive director Liz Callahan. “For generations and generations, Hanford Mills supplied the community with lumber and wood products they needed for their homes, businesses, and farms. The Woodsmen’s Festival celebrates this history, and is an opportunity to demonstrate how we still use water power to run the Mills’ machines. We also want to highlight the work of today’s woodworkers, craftspeople, lumberjacks, and organizations that work to protect and enhance our forests.”
In 2017, The Woodsmen’s Festival featured:
- The Woodsmen’s Club from the SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill
- GTO Woodturning
- Traditional cooper Bob Allers
- Don Vanhart (treadle lathe)
- Bernd Krause (woodworker)
- Ray Hendrickson (portable sawmill)
- Cooperstown Bat Company
- Horse-drawn wagon rides
- Music by John “Catfish” Meyer (10 am – noon) and Bourbon & Branch (noon – 3:30 pm)
- Awestruck Ciders, serving samples and bottles of premium hard cider
- Pure Catskills
- My Woodlot
- Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership
- Catharina Kessler of Promisedland Farms with her handmade Swedish style, traditional mittens and hats
- Shaver Hill Farm maple syrup and candy
- Gilson’s Native American Crafts
- Tickled Pink BBQ with pulled pork sandwiches and snack items
- Pie and chili sales from the Charlotte Valley Presbyterian Church
- Hands-on activities for kids, like playing with gears, simple machines, and circuit boards in the Learning Lab
- Water-power demonstrations in the historic sawmill, gristmill and woodworking shop
- Mill-made crafts, traditional toys, books, and local products for sale in the Museum Shop
- and more!
The Woodsmen’s Festival is included with regular Museum admission, which is free for children 12 and under, and Museum members. Woodsmen’s Festival activities are planned through 4 pm; the Museum site is open until 5 pm.
Museum Neighbors residing in the following zip codes receive FREE admission (with proof of residency): 13757, 13739, 13786, 13750, and 13806.
