The New Bethel Heritage Festival, held Saturday at the New Bethel School, brought together a group of people who demonstrated various old-fashioned skills for the public.
Dennis Bergen of Anderson was working a potter's wheel near the door of the school. A handful of ceramic pieces were sitting nearby. He said he learned the craft right out of high school in 1972 when he took a ceramics class at Crowder College. Bergen, a retired art teacher, said he never really developed his skill until he had to teach it later on.
"It just seems so natural to make something from dirt," he said. "It's just so therapeutic. When God made us in his image, I think he made us little creators."
He said, besides the pieces he had made on the wheel that day, he had been helping children make pinch pots to take home with them.
Gina Matter of Carthage was cooking in cast iron Dutch ovens over a fire. She had made cornbread, beef stew, turkey stew and fried potatoes.
"Everything tastes better over a fire," she said. "My grandparents, my parents cook in cast iron over a fire. My daughter likes to camp out and cook over the fire."
Cousins Donna Hobbs and Debbie Ziemianin of the Bunker Hill Quilters were demonstrating quilting inside the school. Karen Almeter, director of the New Bethel School Preservation Association, which hosted the festival, had supplied the quilt. Hobbs was also using an antique silver thimble that belongs to Almeter.
"We grew up with (quilting). There was always a quilt to be quilted on in all of our family," Hobbs said.
"I've been quilting for a long time," Ziemianin said. "Both of my grannies quilted. My aunt quilts. Donna quilts. We've got a lot of quilters in our family."
Hobbs noted she made her first quilt at five years old using a treadle sewing machine like the one that was being demonstrated that day.
Janet Mote of Neosho was demonstrating the treadle sewing machine. She has several sewing machines at home, about 12, with only three or four being electric and the rest being treadle machines. The electric ones are 1950s models or older because she likes to be able to work on them herself and the older models have simpler designs, she said.
"They're so much more fun," she said of the treadle machines. "The motion to me is soothing. They're very simple. Fewer things can go wrong with them. This is just part of history."
Della Gudgell of Anderson was doing a spinning demonstration. She sat at her spinning wheel spinning colored wool into thread.
"I taught myself in the early '90s. I've been spinning and weaving ever since then. It keeps me busy," she said.
She said she used to raise sheep for their wool, but she ended up spending all her time in the barn with the sheep and did not have time to spin, so she gave the sheep away.
"It's relaxing. It's an old-time craft that most people have forgotten. Every time I do a demonstration, if I can get one person interested, I've done what I came for. If you have a stressful job, you need one of these."
Cheryl Franklin was demonstrating washboard laundry. She was washing a pair of jeans with lye soap on an early 19th-century washboard.
"We've had a lot of kids come by. They love washing clothes," she said.
Marvin Hinkley of Denver, Colo., Almeter's brother, was demonstrating wood carving. He is retired from the clock shops in Denver where he repaired antique clock cases.
He said he went to Germany about 15 or 18 years ago to learn how to carve cuckoo clocks. He met a carver who was carving clocks and hiked to his house over a mountain. The man showed him how to carve and gave him some carvings for his children.
Hinkley had some examples of his work, including a violin scroll, and some photos of his work on display.
Almeter said of the day, "It's been a great day. We have been blessed with a caliber of talent and skill here that is comparable to Silver Dollar City. But at our Heritage Festival, visitors get to step back in time and experience hands-on the skills and way of life of an earlier era."
She said if any people would like to volunteer their time or talent to continue the effort, they may message the association on Facebook under New Bethel School Preservation Association.