MIFFLINBURG — Our ancestors used their skills to create the things they needed and the things that added beauty and comfort to their lives, all of which we enjoy seeing today.
The Mifflinburg Buggy Day Street Festival will be held on Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Market and 5th streets and on Green Street at the Buggy Museum Complex.
Attendees can watch demos from a chainsaw carver, blacksmith, lacemaker and a local pinstriper putting the finishing touches on a newly restored D.B. Miller doctor’s buggy. Hit-and-miss engines and antique cars will be on display. At the Buggy Museum Complex, people can see the buggy maker’s 1880s home, the buggy factory, visitor’s center and the buggy showroom, with guides explaining the art of buggy making and what it was like to live in the buggy era.
“There is always something new each year,” said Eva Linke, Buggy Museum board member. “A newly restored made-in-Mifflinburg buggy or sleigh, new demonstrations, new entertainment, new vendors in addition to returning demonstrations and vendors. But the buggy rides in one of the museum’s restored buggies are the highlight of the day.”
Among the new events are a Buggy Bark Bash Contest, a new section of antique dealers and the first concert given by the newly-formed Buffalo Valley Community Band.
For the Buggy Bark Bash Contest, prizes will be offered for best trick, smallest dog, largest dog, best costume, owner/pet look alike and best behaved. Free registration takes place at 9:45 a.m. beside the Herr Memorial Library, and judging begins at 10:15 a.m. The event is organized by the Susquehanna Trail Dog Club. Prizes will be given and treats are available for children.
The Buffalo Valley Community Band was formed by Matthew Wagner, former band director at Mifflinburg Area High School for 27 years.
“Joannah McGregor (board member of the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum) knew I was toying with the idea of putting together a band. She said, why don’t you launch it and have the first performance for Buggy Day?” Wagner said.
Consisting of about 20 members, the band began rehearsals on May 13.
“The group sounds awesome. Everyone is playing very well. I’m excited for the first concert,” Wagner said. “Most of the players are former students. We’re having a blast.”
The program will include the marches “American Patrol” by F. W. Meacham and “Steel King” by Floyd J. St. Clair, as well as marches by John Philip Sousa, The Thunderer, Washington Post, and High School Cadets. The band will also perform “Blue Goose Rag” by Birch & Broege, and “Cumberland Cross” by Carl Strommen.
“A lot of toe-tappers and good, old American marches,” Wagner said. “I’m very excited to have the first concert at Buggy Day. I’m hoping this will be the first of many.”
Pet the Alpacas will return once again, along with the Victorian High Wheelers. Based in Tamaqua, the group will roll along in their penny-farthing bicycles, so called because the huge front wheel could be compared to a penny coin while the much smaller rear wheel was more like a farthing — a quarter of a penny. Kids can enjoy old-fashioned children’s games and creations from a face painter and a balloon man, while everyone will appreciate the variety of craft and food vendors.
Entertainment throughout the day will include the Musico roving singers, Kj Reimensnyder-Wagner and Tim Latsha, and solo acoustic guitarist/singer Mark Alexander. Attendees can also watch an ongoing demonstration of the technique of daubing between the logs at the Market Street Log House.
Cindy O. Herman lives in Snyder County. Email comments to her at CindyOHerman@gmail.com.
