Arts & Crafts Festival repeats as TOP 100 Event
in North America for third time

If the third time is a charm, the 46th annual Amish Acres Arts & Crafts Festival in Nappanee, Indiana will be a doozy. The nationally recognized festival has been named as a TOP 100 event in North America by the American Bus Association for an unprecedented 3rd time in 2008. It keeps company with the Wisconsin State Fair, Dodge City Days, the National Cherry Festival, Traverse City, Michigan, the Kutztown Folk Festival, Kutztown, Pennsylvania, the Stratford Festival of Canada, and capped off with the Celebration of Quebec City’s 400th Anniversary.

What began as a downtown clothes line show has become one of the premier arts and crafts festivals in the nation. It has been presented annually for over four decades by the same Nappanee family for three generations and has evolved into a marketplace with a unique mix of arts and crafts and folk festival attractions that surround the farm’s pond at Amish Acres Historic Farm & Heritage Resort,

Its national scope is confirmed by a roster of 328 artists and artisans that includes twenty nine states and 290 cities. It was 40 years ago that the Stahly-Nissley-Kuhns farm came up for auction. The farmstead’s heritage is traced back to the first Amish pioneers in Indiana in 1839. Through preservation and continued restoration, it is now listed in The National Register of Historic Places. Today the restored farm has become a heritage cultural center featuring historic interpretation, culinary, performing arts, lodging, and domestic demonstrations, which it celebrates each year with the festival as its crowning event. The four day weekend is a hectic shopper’s affair tempered by the peaceful pace of the 80 acre farm with its barnyard of animals, haystacks, horse drawn implements and gravel lanes.

The show opens July 31 and continues through August 3, Thursday thru Saturday, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Its fame comes from the harmonious combination of the cultural and historical experience of Amish Acres and the folk life atmosphere of the four day festival. In addition to the Marketplace, each artist will enter three creations in competition for nearly $10,000 in cash prizes.

Festive food concoctions including funnel cakes, dill pickles, bean soup, pulled pork sandwiches, and turkey legs bring a distinctive flavor to the annual event. The Soda Fountain offers phosphates, maple syrup and apple butter sundaes, plus old-fashioned ice cream sodas. Shoofly pie, grilled sausage sandwiches, sweet corn, and sassafras tea return as festival goers’ favorites. Donkey ears as well as sweet ‘tater fries satisfy additional taste buds.

From farm wagon rides, marionettes and magic shows, famous family style Threshers Dinner in the century old barn restaurant, guided house and farm tours, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel on the Joseph Stein Stage of The Round Barn Theatre®, add variety to the event. Show schedules can be found at AmishAcres.com or by calling 800-800-4942.

“Although our dreams for this event were amazing in their time, we never considered the position of national prominence the Arts and Crafts Festival has attained,” says Richard Pletcher, founder of the festival, originally located in front of the former Pletcher Furniture Village, and third generation owner of the former retail store in downtown Nappanee. The event continues to garner praise and special recognition from sources throughout the country including NEWSWEEK magazine. It is rated as one of the top ten shows by Sunshine Artist magazine, the highest ranking in the Midwest.

The slate of continuous musical entertainment scheduled for the four stages include long time country and contemporary favorites Knock, Knock Hoosier String Band, LaMonte’s Gray Horse Band and Due Process. The Woolevers will stroll the grounds as well as perform under the tent. Their folk music features the fiddle and guitar along with ten old-time musical instruments. And the Little River Chorus quartet brings the tight harmonies of barbershop singing to the festival.

The Dancin’ Tent will be filled with square dancers, Happy Squares and cloggers, Heartland Country Cloggers and Inclognito Cloggers. Strolling the grounds will be accordionist Jim Muciarelli, bringing a taste of Italy to the aisles.

The Children’s Entertainment Tent is home to Steven’s Puppets marionettes who were recently inducted into the Arts & Crafts Festival’s Hall of Fame.

Admission charge is $7 per adult, $6 for seniors, active military, and students 12 to 18 and free for those 11 years and under. Pre-event tickets and four day passes may be purchased online at AmishAcres.com. Free parking is available. Pets are not allowed on festival grounds. Corporate program discounts with advance purchased admission tickets as well as charter bus group rates are available upon request by calling 800-800-4942 ext 215.