Wiregrass Heritage Festival celebrates agricultural history

Landmark Park will celebrate the local agricultural heritage during the Wiregrass Heritage Festival on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

One of the featured activities on the Wiregrass Farmstead will be the annual grinding of the sugar cane for syrup making. At the turn of the century, processing sugar cane was an occasion for celebration in many rural areas and few farms went without sugar cane. Demonstrators will cut the sugar cane and bring it to the mule-drawn cane mill. The cane will then be crushed and the juice cooked down to syrup in an 80-gallon kettle. Syrup, still warm from the kettle, will be on sale at the event.

Exhibitors from across the Southeast will display restored antique tractors, engines and farm equipment. Park staff and volunteers will harvest peanuts using mules and vintage farm equipment. Other activities will include blacksmithing, basket making, corn shelling and woodworking and more. A quilt show of over 100 quilts will hang in the Stokes Activity Barn. Volunteers will also demonstrate spinning, weaving, cooking on a wood stove and open hearth, quilting, soap making and other traditional household chores. Musical performances will take place throughout the day in the park’s gazebo. The Shelley General Store and Martin Drugstore will be open, selling ice cream, candy and old country items. Concessions will be available.

Admission to the Wiregrass Heritage Festival is $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, $4 for kids, and free for members and children 3 and under. For more information, contact the park at 794-3452.