The Sixth Annual Johnny Appleseed Festival will kick off Friday, Oct. 7, at Memorial Field, Sheffield.
New this year will be a wine trail sponsored by Howe's True Value on Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m. at the fire hall. For $5 you will receive a complimentary wine glass to taste the wine from: Allegheny Cellars Winery from Sheffield, Winery at Wilcox, Flickerwood Winery from Kane, Starr Hill Winery from Curwensville and Deer Creek Winery from Shippensville. Vendors will include: Pete's Pepperoni offering smoked meats and cheese, Aunt Carol's Dips offering several different kinds of dips and mixes, Brenda Saporito offering Thirty-One products and Tim Pierce with his homemade bake goods from Tim's Kitchen Kreations.
Michael Schultz Jr will be on hand from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday signing his book, "The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Allegheny National Forest," at the Johnny Appleseed Festival booth. Schultz will donate $5 from each book to the local library fund.
The Sheffield Depot will have Tom Copello and his trains set up all weekend for train enthusiastics. Duhring Resources will have antique engines on display and working throughout the festival weekend.
Craftors will include: Mountain Mud Handmade/Karma Hoops; Beauti Control; Bankes Family Repurposed Goods; Laurie Schrader; Sheffield UMC/Homemade Apple Butter; B,B,& B Honey; Beaded Fashions; French Creek Valley Trading Post; Oneida Hearth & Hot Tubs; Chris Crafts; Streich Cake and Candy; One County for Education; Leicht's Rustic Tables; Davita with gift baskets and calendars; Main Street Artisans; Dunking booth Wolverine Grid Iron Club; Sheffield Youth Trap Team; Happy Hookers Woodshed and Bear a Faire; Mary Kay Cosmetics; Designs by Lori Phillips; Ruth M. Smith Center Day Care; Artisans Treasurers; AVES/SES PTO group with baked goods and cotton candy and Kinzua Ridge Runners 4-H with apple dumplings.
Food vendors will be Devona's Eats & Treats; Youngsville Wrestling Boosters, Murphy's Concessions; Boys Scouts Troup 35; Ma & Pa's Kettle Corn, Inc.; Roll n Thunder ; John Gertsch Memorial Home Association; My Daddy's Concessions, Fowlers Taffy/Funnel Cakes and Fowlers Food Stand; and Porter's Blooming Potato.
Half Yard Productions will be at the festival on Saturday, filming the festival for an upcoming broadcast on Modern Marvels which will be featured on the History Channel in early 2012.
Lanterns to Heaven can be purchased by contacting Mona Champion at 968-3232. The Lanterns will be lighted at 7 p.m. Saturday and sent off into the sky in memory or in honor of a loved one. The lanterns are $10 and can be purchased by contacting Mona before the festival begins or at the Johnny Appleseed Booth on the blacktop during the festival prior to Saturday at 7 p.m. A special message can written on the lantern prior to it being lifted off if the individuals would like to do this.
Starting things off and getting the festival mood set will be The Rag Time Band on Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. Then on Saturday during the wine tasting event at the Sheffield Fire Hall, Rich Rawson will perform from 1 to 6 p.m. and also performing during this time on the festival grounds will be the Just Having Fun Polka Band from Kane. Brokenstraw will take us into the evening and the Lanterns to Heaven and the fireworks. On Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m., the Allegheny String Band will wind up the festival musical entertainment.
The First Annual Cornhole Tournament will be held with registration beginning at 4:30 p.m. Friday evening. The tournament will take place at 5 p.m. on the basketball courts on Memorial Park. If it rains they will take place at the Ruth M. Smith Center gymnasium. Prizes will be awarded to the winning team. At 6 p.m. the Lawn Tractor races will be off and running. There will be an obstacle course complete with the eating of some delicious applesauce during the course. So come on down soup up your lawn tractor and win a prize. The homecoming bonfire will also take place on Friday evening with the parade down to the field at 7 p.m. with the football team and cheerleaders. The coffin will be thrown into the fire and the cheering the team on to victory over the Otto Eldred Terrors on Saturday with the game beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Saturday the festivities begin at 7 a.m. with breakfast being served up by the Sheffield Rotary. For $6, you can enjoy scrambled eggs, homefries, sausage, toast and coffee or juice. Then from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can bring in your antiques and have them appraised by a professional appraiser. At 11 a.m. the Heavy and Light Weight Horse Pull begins. Let the steam pour from those draft horses noses and weights be lifted onto the sled for some real excitement. The horse pull has been brought to you courtesy of the Hornburg Drilling, LLC.
Along with this entertainment and much anticipated excitement will be the Professional Lumberjack Competition. There will be approximately 45 lumberjacks from all over the USA, Canada as well as the Netherlands. These Jacks and Jills will be competing for $1,000 in prize money. The entire Jill's competition is sponsored by The Michael & Nicholas Peroski Post 8755! Sit back and watch the wood chips fly as the men's events include standing block chop, underhand chop, two-man crosscut, single buck and the open springboard. The women's events will be standing block chop, underhand chop, two-women crosscut, single buck and bowsaw. The open events will be open Hot Saw and an Amateur Logrolling Tournament.
Fireworks will take place around 8 p.m.
Sunday will begin with the Rotary serving up a delicious breakfast and then at 11 a.m. the Antique Tractor Pull, which has been sponsored by Johnson Tire Services will begin. The old and new tractors will be pulling thousands of pounds for prize money. Also, beginning at 11a.m. is the second day of professional lumberjack's competition. The events for men will be standing block elimination and age 23+ under underhand chop. The women's events will be underhand elimination and the fire-build. The open events on Sunday will include the axe throw elimination (top eight from preliminaries), Jack and Jill Crosscut, team relay -two men and two women will include men's open hot saw, women's bolt split, women's single buck and the men's standing block.
Take a chance on a custom made cornhole set complete with the Johnny Appleseed Festival logo. Tickets are one for $2 or three for $5. Also take a chance on a tri-axle load of fire wood or $700 cash, donation is $10 each or three for $20. Winner of the load of fire wood must live within a 60 mile radius of Sheffield. All proceeds benefit the Johnny Appleseed Festival.
For a complete schedule and list of event sponsors, visit www.johnnyappleseedfest.net.