Kinzua heritage and living history returns to Fox Hill Road this weekend.

For the 12th year, the Kinzua Heritage Arts and Music Festival will convene at 4047 Fox Hill Road in Russell. Open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, August 25, and Saturday, August 26, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, August 27, the festival features arts and crafts vendors and music and dance demonstrations at the main stage. Entry is $5 a person, with children 10 and under free and a special senior rate on Friday of $3 per person age 65 and over. A benefit auction will be held on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

The festival is a 501 (c)3 organization, and as such it is able to provide donations to local charities. All the money raised that doesn’t go back into next year’s festival, including proceeds from the benefit auction, goes directly back into local charities, said Scott Mead, who’s been one of the event’s organizers for the past 12 years.

Over that time, said Mead, around $18,000 has been generated by the festival, which has been donated to local volunteer fire departments, the Disabled American Veterans association, local historical societies, and the John Gertsch Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, to name a few.

“Pretty much any organization that’s trying to keep history alive and educate people about history,” said Mead, is a potential recipient of festival donations.

New and familiar vendors will be on hand from Friday to Sunday, as well as Civil War and Revolutionary War reenactors, the mobile veteran’s unit on Sunday, and events scheduled throughout the weekend. Festival attendees will be able to see Native American, bluegrass, and folk music being played all day on two stages, Native American storytelling, historical speakers from the region, kid’s activities and games. Free parking is again being made available. Among the arts and crafts vendors this year, attendees can find blacksmiths, wood and leather working, pottery, quilts, and period goods and services as well as demonstrations of period camps, trades, costume, and culture.

The unique event draws reenactors and artisans from around the region and beyond, with some coming from as far away as the Washington, D.C. area. Find out more about the Kinzua Heritage Festival on Facebook.