About the 2012 Festival 

The crunch of autumn leaves, smell of wood smoke and taste of fresh apple butter drew Lancaster County residents to the 25th annual Snitz Fest at the Hans Herr House on Saturday, October 6, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM.

The annual festival features dozens of traditional foods, hands-on activities and demonstrations of Pennsylvania German and Native American life by artisans in period dress.

Because of a good early crop in the Herr House orchard, this year’s cider and apple butter was made from heirloom apples grown on-site.

Local historian Henry Benner told the story of how the Snitz Fest began a quarter-century ago, and Native American guides gave previews of the Lancaster Longhouse, now in the final stages of construction nearby.

“It’s a good year,” said director Becky Gochnauer.

Demonstrations ranged from 19th-century versions of modern chores—baking in an outdoor oven, scrubbing laundry with a washboard—to tasks we recognize mostly from stories, like blacksmithing or churning butter, to once-common jobs that now seem completely foreign, such as heckling flax or splitting shingles.

OCB Cakes and Java Junction sold apple cider, apple dumplings, apple fritters, apple pies, snitz pies, whoopie pies, and sausage sandwiches from the museum’s own smokehouse. Soups, drinks and a variety of other sandwiches and sweets were also available.