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Event:
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Homer Historical Society Fall Festival
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Date:
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Saturday, September 25th, 2021
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Time:
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11:00 AM − 4:30 PM
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Organization:
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Homer Historical Society |
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Location:
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Blair Historical Farm
26645 M-60 East
Homer, MI
Phone: none
none
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Cost:
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No charge
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Contact:
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Dee Camp
Phone: 517-524-7348
Click Here to Email
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Description:
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It’s Homer Fall Festival time
again
The Homer Historical
Society’s Fall Festival is
back after a year off in 2020
due to COVID pandemic
protocols. It will be held
Saturday, September 25 from
11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Blair
Historical Farm, 26645 M-60
East., and like always, there
is no admission charge, and
parking is still free. “We
will have the same basic
format that people have
enjoyed for years,” the
organization’s president Dee
Camp said. But she added that
people can anticipate some
new displays as well as those
that are tried and true. The
first Fall Festival ws held
in 1976.
A display celebrating
Homer women will be a new
feature in the former Albion
Town Hall where Homer area
barn photos and their stories
were grouped for the first
time in 2018 and 2019. They
will still be there, but this
year they will be shown in a
new, moveable wooden frame
format making them easier to
view. John Hawkins, who
created the exhibit, added
the new display frames this
year to highlight the
display. Many hours of work
and creativity have gone into
developing it, photographing
each of the several dozen
barns, and interviewing their
owners to learn about their
construction, various uses,
and interesting histories.
The “Women of Homer”
display was planned for last
year to recognize the 100th
anniversary of women’s right
to vote in the United States.
Because the 2020 festival had
to be cancelled, this display
can be seen for the first
time this year.
The farm’s newest
barn, built in 2015 to house
large displays and equipment,
will again be filled with
antique farm machinery and
large equipment. Antique
engines and farm machinery
will also be outside the barn
where visitors can take a
leisurely walk and talk to
the people who have brought
their machinery for display.
There are many other
outdoor things to experience
including a saw mill,
campfire cooking
demonstrations, corn pancakes
made outside on a cookstove,
the Grover whistle-stop
railroad station, horse-drawn
wagon rides through the
woods, and crafters will have
tables outside with a variety
of personally created items
for sale.
Barn quilts are
another feature. Creating
them in classes held at the
farm has become a popular
activity, and several of the
wooden barn quilts can be
seen permanently attached to
the exterior of the Blair
Farm barn, the barn door, and
the Grover station. Barn
quilts have become a popular
artistic form that can be
seen throughout Michigan and
the mid-west. Traditional
quilt block patterns that are
enlarged and painted on wood
enabling them to be displayed
on barns and other surfaces.
Great food and dulcimer music
go hand-in-hand at the Blair
Farm where bratwurst in a
bun, harvest soup, baked
beans, hot dogs, pies, and
more are available and can be
enjoyed in the large tent
near the dulcimer groups. The
Homespun Strings, organized
by Janice Boden, will play
from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
and by Uncle Carl’s Dulcimer
Club from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Both groups of talented area
musicians have performed at
the festival for many years.
The Blair family farmhouse
will be open for tours. The
first Fall Festival was held
to highlight the restoration
of the historic Blair family
home that was donated to the
Homer Historical Society by
Maude Blair, the
granddaughter of Dr. George
W. Blair, Homer’s first
medical doctor who came to
the area in 1836. Maude’s
parents built the farmhouse,
and Maude and her sister
Bessie grew up there. When
Maude donated her family’s
farm to the non-profit, tax-
exempt organization in 1975
she charged the Historical
Society with preserving
Homer’s history through the
farm so that the present and
future generations could
learn what life was like when
her grandfather helped to
pioneer the area and when her
parents, Albert and Ella
Blair, developed the family
farm after their marriage in
1875.
Proceeds and donations from
the Fall Festival help to
support the construction of
new displays, historical
preservation, restoration
work and museum maintenance.
“We have had so much local
and area support during the
pandemic, and we want to
support the community with
our focus on area history and
family-oriented events,” Camp
said. She added that private
tours and other activities
can be arranged throughout
the year by calling her at
517-524-7348 or through the
contact information form on
the organization’s website.
Crafters interested in having
a festival booth and people
wishing to display antique
farm equipment or other
machinery may contact Camp at
517-524-7348.
Information about the
festival is also available on
the Homer Historical
Society’s website
www.homerhistoricalsociety.or
g and Facebook.
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