The Bluegrass Heritage Museum and the Winchester Farmers Market are joining forces to host a showcase of life in Clark County in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The exhibition and demonstrations of Kentucky’s early life is entitled “Growing Kentucky, Agricultural Exhibitions & Conversations.”
“We wanted to present agriculture to the people of this town to show what it was like when people first arrived here,” said Debbie Barnes, president of the Winchester Farmers Market. “Agriculture is what builds¿Clark County.”
The showcase will include many exhibitors, including Brook Elliot, who will give a presentation about period gardens. This particular garden houses things that would only have grown during the time when Boonesborough was active.
Elliot also will be selling period seeds that will include the early cash crops, like tobacco, corn, pumpkin, tomato and squash.
Other exhibitors include Kevin Palmer and Johnny Faulconer, who will exhibit a moonshine still, Jack Wise with tobacco, John Venable with antique farm tools and Larry Meadows with early history. Jenny Bailey will be providing lunch.
“We will also have an exhibit of a handmade ox yoke that belonged to my great-great-grandfather, Edward Stamper, who died around 1850,” Barnes said. “He trained the little oxen with it and switched to bigger ones as they grew. It’s very old.”
The showcase also will focus on Native Americans and their means of survival. Other presenters will exhibit soap making, honey, making rope from hemp, lotions and a loom.
“Growing Kentucky” will be Saturday at the museum at 217 S. Main St., and will include two sessions. The first session is from 9 to 11:30 a.m., and the second session will be from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Barnes said she wants the exhibits to include conversation, not just listening. She said there is room for 50 to 100 people. Anyone interested in attending should check on availability as soon as possible. Admission will cost $25 per person and is tax deductible. All proceeds will be donated to the farmers market and the museum.
For reservations, call 745-1358, or email bgheritage@bellsouth.net with the attention to farmers market.
Contact Kendall Sparks at ksparks@winchestersun.com.
