Heritage Farm gearing up
for festival

April 13, 2009
By BILL ROSENBERGER
The Herald-Dispatch

The 13th annual Farm Festival is right around the corner, which means Heritage Farm Museum and Village owner A. Michael Perry is spending even more time on his 500-acre historical exhibit.

“The festival is the only day of the year when everything is in operation,” said Perry, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Bank One West Virginia and current member of the Marshall University Board of Governors.

Lori Wolfe/The Herald Dispatch Michael Perry, second from left, visits with the Keblesh family as they tour the Progress Building on Monday, April 13, 2009, at Heritage Farm Museum and Village in Huntington.

The Museum and Village is open year round, but Perry said festival-goers who come from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2, will witness craftsmen and women from the 19th and early 20th centuries spinning, weaving, making jewelry and running the saw mill and shingle mill. Food also will be available.

“I wish I had that stuff going on all the time, but running a non-profit operation is hard enough,” said Perry, who runs the farm with his wife Henrietta.

He also relies on more than 250 volunteers to put on the festival. In addition to the people doing the various demonstrations, Perry needs people to serve food and help with parking. Training for volunteers is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 18.

The need for more volunteers is a reflection of how much the museum and the festival have grown. Perry said the first festival was held in the old barn to the left of the entrance at 3300 Harvey Road. Now, everything is off to the right in 26 different buildings.

“Most of these buildings weren’t here 13 or 14 years ago,” he said. “They are compilations of mostly log buildings we’ve taken down in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia and reassembled here.”

New this year is the C & O caboose that Perry obtained in August 2007. He spent last year refurbishing the exterior and should have the interior done for the festival. The display cases in the Progress Building also have been updated, along with extensive additions to the printing press area.

Much remains the same, though that hasn’t been a bad thing. Perry said about 1,500 visitors come each year to the festival, with more spending a few hours taking the guided tour throughout the year. And whether it’s model trains, farm animals, the one-room schoolhouse or the various museums, he hopes they see why the museum and village are so important to him.

“What we’re trying to instill in our visitors is why they should have an immense pride ... in the dogged determination of their ancestors,” Perry said. “They made do with what few implements they brought with them.”

Perry, though, is hardly the outdoorsy type. He even jokes that camping for him is staying at the Greenbrier. But he is adamant that history, especially in southern West Virginia, be remembered.

“I do want to celebrate and remember these wonderful people,” he said. “I think they can teach us a lot about the tumultuous change we are going through as a country.

“The motto of the farm is study the past to gain appreciation of the present and dream about a better tomorrow,” Perry added.

The festival is family friendly. Visitors can wander through the museums and see the horse-drawn wagon and Henry Ford’s Model T. There’s also a history of the printing press, the change from the agricultural to the industrial age and the shingle and saw mill. You can also see the log cabins and reception areas that are available for gatherings, weddings, meetings and reunions.

Kids will love the farm zoo and activity barn, which will feature butter churning and a chance to milk a cow.

“It’s obviously my favorite day of the year,” Perry said.

Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for children or $20 per family. Parking is free.

Coming up at the farm

VOLUNTEER TRAINING: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 18. The museum and village needs up to 300 volunteers to help at its 13th Farm Festival on May 2. Those interested in helping should show up at the museum, where they will be shown around the 500-acre historical park.

Volunteers are needed for a variety of duties, including serving food and beverages, staffing the various buildings and parking cars.

13th FARM FESTIVAL: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2. A variety of demonstrations — including spinning, weaving and making jewelry — will be displayed, and the saw mill and shingle mill will operate.