July 4th event offers old-fashioned family fun
[East Meredith] Hanford Mills Museum will hold its annual Independence Day Celebration on Friday, July 4 from 10 am – 5 pm. The festival features a children’s fishing derby, frog-jumping contest (bring your own frog), live music, and food. Visitors can tour the historic mill and woodworking shop and see demonstrations featuring the 1926 Fitz Overshot waterwheel, the steam boiler and steam engines.
A popular feature of the Independence Day Celebration is ice cream, made with a steam-powered churn and chilled with ice from the Museum’s Ice Harvest. Free samples will be available throughout the day.
Country Express perform noon to 3 pm. Tickled Pink BBQ will offer pork BBQ sliders and sandwiches. Shaver-Hill Farm will be selling maple products, including maple cotton candy.
Special Fun for Kids
The Museum will run a children’s fishing derby on the Mill Pond from 10 am – 12:00 pm, with prizes being awarded for the largest fish. Children 14 and under should bring a pole and bait (or borrow one of the poles that will be available courtesy of the Department of Environmental Conservation in Stamford.) There also will be sack races, tug-of-war, and frog-jumping contests (at 12:30 and 2:30 pm, bring your own frog).
“The Independence Day Celebration has been held at Hanford Mills for generations,” says Liz Callahan, the Museum’s executive director. “We are happy to continue this family-friendly tradition and celebrate the Fourth at Hanford Mills.”
About Hanford Mills Museum
Hanford Mills Museum operates an authentic water- and steam-powered historic site. The mission of Hanford Mills Museum is to inspire audiences of all ages to explore connections among energy, technology, natural resources and entrepreneurship in rural communities, with a focus on sustainable choices. The Museum which is listed on the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places is open Wednesdays-Sundays, 10 am – 5 pm.
Children 12 and under, and Museum members receive free admission. Admission for adults and teens is $9, for seniors, $7, retired military, $4.50.. Active duty military and their families receive free admission. AAA and other discounts available.
Hanford Mills Museum is located at 51 County Highway 12 in East Meredith, at the intersection of Delaware County Routes 10 & 12, just 10 miles from Oneonta, and 15 miles from Delhi. For more information, visit hanfordmills.org or call607.278.5744.
