AUTHOR’S NOTE: In 2016, the festival was renamed to Hands On Heritage.

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At the end of a trail in the Rocky River Reservation…

…people were heading to the Frostville Museum…

…for a good ole Cedar Valley Settlers Celebration and Music Festival.

One of the perks of having the festival at the Frostville Museum…

…was for festival goers to tour the historic buildings.

Fine structures, like the Carpenter House, called you inside…

…(as my brother did from the window)…

…and you could get an idea how the settlers lived…

…smoked and stored food in their basements…

…and got through the night with those creepy 19th century dolls.

There were other interesting places to see, like the General Store…

…the barn with its fire truck…

…and the Gatling gun in front.

But after listening to Front Porch on the main stage…

…getting some dance lessons as Mud in Yer Eye performed…

…sitting back to some storytelling…

…or just noticing other bands popping up wherever there was space…

…you realized the action was going on outside.

And, honestly, music was only a small part of the festival…

…when there were demonstrations that included rug braiding…

…chair-canning…

…barn raising…

…and spinning…

…and activities that included candle-making…

…rope making…

…shirt making…

…quill writing…

…two-man sawing…

…and crafts galore.

Then there were the free samples…

…of apple butter…

…apple cider…

…and quite a bit of cake (due to frequent visits).

Of course, there were also food and snack windows…

…and various other restaurants and groups selling grub…

…but it never hurt to snag an apple when it was free.

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