Johnny Appleseed returns to Bryn Athyn

Johnny Appleseed will be ret urning to Bryn Athyn at t he eighth annual Johnny Appleseed Festival at the Orchard Artworks, located at 520 Tomlinson Avenue. The festival, which will host more crafts and entertainment this year, will be Sept. 29 f r om 1 t o 4 p. m.

The day will be filled with apples, baked goods and crafts, as l ocal arti s t s , historians and bakers gather t o participate i n t he f all festival. Craftsmen and women will be having public demonstrat i ons f or spinning wool, pressing apples for cider and making rope i n t he 1Uth century s t yles. This year t here will also be t he addit i on of t he corn s heller, which will demonstrate how farms would collect the corn from their fields before modern machines. For t he f i r s t t i me, t here will also be a book signing by author Ray Silverman. He will be signing copies of his recently published book, “The Core of Johnny Appleseed.”

Returning t h i s y e a r i s t h e a p - ple pie t a s t i n g c o n t e s t where t h r e e j u d g e s wil l t a s t e a n d d e - c i d e who h a s s u b mitt e d the most f l a v o r f u l p i e . Also k e e p - i n g wit h t r a d i t i o n wil l b e the annual tree planting in the o r i g i n a l o r c h a r d , s i n c e much o f the original 1914 orchard has d i e d . This y e a r the t r e e wil l b e p l a n t e d i n memory o f a r t i s t Sylvi a Glassman, who p a s s e d a way e a r l y t h i s y e a r. Glassman was a p a p e r c r a f t a r t i s t a t Orc h a r d Artworks s i n c e November 2002 and specialized in making h o memade n o t e c a r d s u s i n g r u b b e r s t a mps.

The festival is held to celebrate the life of Johnny Appleseed, who was really John Chapman from Wooster, Ohio. Chapman traveled throughout Pennsylvania and t he Midwest planting apple trees and spreading the teachings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, upon whose writing the General Church of New Jerusalem was built. Attendees can l earn about his history and legend from the Alnwick Grove Historical Society, which will be handing out information at its table.

The Johnny Appleseed Fest i val coincides with Orchard Artworks’ “Autumn of t he Art” show where all t he artists who r un t he s t udio will be displaying pieces t hat i nclude pottery, j ewelry and photography.

Events will be going on all day and attendees are encouraged to bring a picnic l unch with t hem t o enjoy among t he f estivities. Baked goods will be for sale at t he f estival.