New Bethel Heritage Festival Planned

Organizers of a history-celebrating festival have changed the name this year to more accurately reflect its mission.

The former Old Time Craft Festival has been changed to the New Bethel Heritage Festival, said Karen Almeter, New Bethel Preservation Association founder.

The fifth annual festival is set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, at the New Bethel School, just west of Anderson.

Attendees at the family-friendly free event will have the opportunity to see a number of demonstrators perform chores the old-fashioned way.

The preservation association hosts the annual event to show and preserve the heritage of the school and to raise money for the school's restoration.

Organizers have enlisted the help of a banjo maker as one of the demonstrators. Doug Crane of Joplin gives demonstrations at History Alley in Neosho and has built more than 100 banjos.

Janet Mote, who sews on a treadle sewing machine and a hand-crank machine, will return this year.

New this year are Granby residents June Freund, broom maker, and her husband Michael, who is a blacksmith.

Other demonstrators will show how to create pottery, handsaw logs, cook in a Dutch oven, handpump water, wash laundry on a washboard, spin and hand quilt.

Younger children will be able to take rides on miniature horses, a return from last year.

Volunteers are busy finishing several old-fashioned items that will be for sale on that Saturday. "The General Store," located inside the schoolhouse, will offer handmade aprons and sunbonnets, rag dolls, paper dolls, old-time toys and games, rag rugs, lye soap, beeswax candles, jams and baked goods, Almeter said.

"His Table" will offer pulled pork and a chicken dinner this year on a donation basis. Musicians will entertain with bluegrass music.

Volunteers have been working hard to finish up some restoration work at the school. Almeter and her husband have painted the foyer and finished the window trim. Chair-rail trim is being completed, and contractor Max Meadows is sanding the floors.

"Things are shaping up," Almeter said. "We hope to have the floor finished by May 11. It will be really beautiful."

The New Bethel School is located three miles west of Anderson on F Highway and north three-fourths of a mile on New Bethel Road. For more information, call 417-845-6855.

General News on 05/02/2019