Hay Creek Festival

Attractions 10 am to 5 pm daily. Free shuttle busses run continuously throughout the day.

Welcome to the Hay Creek Festival. In the 42^nd year our heritage festival is the most diverse event in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Today 1,500 volunteers bring together two centuries of history with authentic demonstrations of early American trades and crafts, mechanical technology exhibits, old time music, and a modern craft & antique market. So “Step into the Past” and immerse yourself in a history that our forefathers would be proud of experiencing.

Meet the Joanna Villagers

Here ye!  Here ye!  The Hay Creek Festival takes pride in offering authentic traditional crafts and tradesmen with daily demonstrations taking place throughout the 26-acre Joanna Furnace ironmaking community.  Visitors will experience what life was like 200 years ago in the quaint village of Joanna Furnace and see the hands-on skills of the 18th & 19th century townsfolk.  Our community includes food preserving, laundress, weaver, seamstress, soap maker, broom maker, potter, tinsmith, gunsmith and pewter maker.   The village woodworkers will be busy demonstrating adzing, pipe drilling, coopering and cutting timbers on a one-of-a-kind pit saw.   Mail call takes place at 2 pm each day as the Villagers gather at town square to talk about the daily happenings.