2,500 come out for Boyertown Historical Society’s 50th Annual Der Belsnickel Craft Show
Every year the Boyertown Historical Society hosts the Der Belsnickel Craft Show. This year the 50th annual show took place on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 at the New Hanover United Methodist Church North Campus building, which is a new location from previous years.
The Der Belsnickel had a good turnout of 2,500 people attending. Proceeds from the event go toward the Historical Society. In fact, this is the largest fundraiser the group had all year.
This event is held to help promote and showcase the Pennsylvania Dutch culture. It also allows artisans to show off their hard work and talk to people about what they create. One of the unique aspects of the Der Belsnickel is how it teaches the younger generations about what people created and how all of it is handmade, and it gets artisans all under one roof to make their products available for people to purchase as Christmas gifts for family members or to just to have as their own.
One of the artisans, Roy Bachert, has been attending this show for about 10 to 12 years. He got his start making pottery while he was in college, and as it has progressed, his wife has helped to create the beautiful artwork. His wife does all of the carvings in the pottery and she makes all of the glazes while he sculpts the pieces of pottery. Roy has been creating pottery for 23 years and it has taken off. Their artwork has been in many festivals and markets such as Musikfest in Bethlehem, the Kris Kringle Mart, and the Kutztown Folk Festival.
He really enjoys the Der Belsnickel Craft Show and he likes meeting new people. He also has a clientele that comes every year to the Der Belsnickel and buys artwork from him, and he enjoys how friendly the customers are at the show.
This event has many highlights such as getting the artisans to come to the show to showcase their work and being able to view the many different kinds of artworks at the show.
Another one of the artisans, Hunter Yoder of Boyertown, makes and designs hex signs, which are staples in the Pennsylvania Dutch culture. After another Hex sign painter retired, Yoder filled the gap. He enjoys doing folk art from his own culture.
Yoder also likes supporting the historical society and coming out to this show because it is “one of the more prestigious fine art and craft shows in the region.”
The artisans work very hard to put together a stand to showcase their artwork
and make it unique to their art and the style they work with. The stands are part of what makes them all unique because they all have a different theme and way to show off their work.
One artisan, Michele
Reinert, creates handstitched felt artwork. She has been attending this show for about five years and she enjoys the good turnout of people. She initially started going to Der Belsnickel as a kid with her mom every year, which ended up turning into her being a vendor there. She enjoys seeing the families shopping together and just being out together.
All in all, the Der Belsnickel Craft Show was constantly busy and more and more people were showing up as the days progressed. This event helps out the Boyertown Historical Society and helps local artists show their artwork and get their art into homes. A good event for the community, it was an enjoyable time to spend with family and buy each other Christmas gifts.