Harvest Frolic and Agricultural Fair October 6 - 7 at Lincoln Log Cabin

LERNA - Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site will host its annual Harvest Frolic and Agricultural Fair on Saturday and Sunday, October 6 and 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The event is free and open to the public, and features free parking.

Harvest Frolic activities taking place at the Lincoln and Sargent farms both days include period cooking, applesauce making, food drying and preservation, quilting, grist milling, period music, and numerous hands-on activities such as doll making and quilt block sewing. Visitors may also take part in period games and activities such as wool carding, rail splitting, and other activities, including a pie-eating contest each day. An 1840s Agricultural Fair will also be held at the Sargent Farm featuring period crops, garden vegetables, seeds, domestic goods, livestock, and agricultural implements. The Sargent Farm will also feature a contest for the best of 1845 butter, cheese, and baked goods judged to 19th century agricultural fair standards.

The Agricultural Fair features period trades and craftspeople demonstrating their wares in the area across from the visitor center. These will include blacksmithing, pottery, woodcarving, paper cutting (Scherenschnitte), weaving, broom making, and wood turning on the "Great Wheel." Many of the trades and crafts people will be selling their wares. The site's gift shop will also be open, and the event will be the last chance to get tickets for the 2007 Volunteer Pioneer Quilt Raffle before the winner's name is drawn on Sunday, October 7.

Entertainment this year includes an 1840s magician, Punch & Judy Puppet Shows, and returning musicians Paul and Kim Caudell from Nashville, Tennessee. Horse-drawn tram rides around the park will also be available both days. New this year, Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. the Reverend Thomas Goodman, a 19th century circuit rider, will be portrayed holding his Sunday service on the stage in the trades area. The Volunteer Pioneers will serve ham and beans, cornbread and other appropriate fare. Other vendors will offer kettle camel corn, root beer, and other period foods.

Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (www.Illinois-History.gov), is an 86-acre pioneer farmstead that was the last home of Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's father and stepmother. It is located eight miles south of Charleston, and is open Wednesday through Sunday for free public tours. For more information on the Harvest Frolic and Agricultural Fair, call (217) 345-1845 or visit www.lincolnlogcabin.org.