Category: Around Town

Boalsburg is gearing up with lots of activities for locals and visitors during Hometown Christmas 2022. Please join us!

Hometown Christmas in Boalsburg will be held on December 3^rd from 4:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. on the Diamond. Santa will arrive shortly before 6:00 p.m. to light the holiday tree. The event, which is being organized by the Harris Township Lions Club and the Boalsburg Village Conservancy, will feature hot chocolate, popcorn, cookies and live music.

Live Nativity: St. John’s UCC invites you to a live nativity with a reading of the Christmas story coinciding with the Boalsburg Hometown Christmas. Shows will be in front of the church (218 N. Church Street) at 4:30pm and 5:15pm.

The Boalsburg Heritage Museum will hold a Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00p.m. Come enjoy the beautifully decorated museum, music, children’s crafts in the Barn, including “Holiday Caricatures by Molly.” Hot mulled cider and hot chocolate straight from the fireplace in the Summer Kitchen will be served. A Homemade Christmas cookie sale will be offered. Adam Swartz, Puppeteer, will be presenting a puppet show in the Lower Barn at 2:00, sponsored by a gift from Colonial Press. Many local businesses have donated wonderful raffle items in support of the Museum. Come and enjoy the day at the Boalsburg Heritage Museum with your friends and neighbors. The Museum is open for tours every Sunday afternoon between 2;00 and 4:00 and by appointment. boalsburgheritagemuseum@gmail.com or check the website at https://boalsburgheritagemuseum.org/

The Boal Mansion and Christopher Columbus Chapel has the following activities planned:

December 2 & 3—Candlelight Tours of the Mansion and Chapel at 6:00, 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. $15 per person.

December 2—Springhill Paranormal Tour Reveal at 7:00 p.m. in the Boal Barn Great Room. All are welcome.

December 3—Kristkindle Market. Come join in the fun and start your Christmas shopping with us in the Boal Barn Great Room from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Photo op with St. Nicholas from 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. Teddy Bear story time on the stage in the theater at 11 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Sleigh rides provided by Misty Lane Farms from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

December 4—Christmas Tea & Tour: Will be held in the Boal Mansion ballroom at 4:00 p.m. Seating is limited to 30 people so reserve your seats now. $65 per person. https://boalmuseum.com/

Duffy’s Boalsburg Tavern on the Diamond is having its traditional Colonial Christmas Dinner for the weekend of Boalsburg Hometown Christmas (Friday, Dec. 2 to Sunday, Dec. 4). We design our menu around the original settlers in the area: Scotch Irish, Scottish, Irish, German, Spanish and French (the last two honor the women of the Boal family).

A Basket Full on Main Street is having pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus on the porch on Sunday, December 11 from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Come enjoy hot chocolate and cookies as well.

Each Spring and Fall the Ladies Auxilliary to the Boalsburg Fire Company hold a Flea Market (indoor yard sale) at the Fire Hall. There are usually 30 tables available for local folks to reserve a space to sell assorted items. I guess by having different people manning each table (the flea market model) means buyers give money to separate sellers…instead of the yard sale model where buyers can pick up a bunch of items and pay for all of them at the end.

This flea market is one of the major fund raisers for the auxilliary and this money goes to help the Fire Company purchase new equipment. The side benefit is sellers have an opportunity to get rid of stuff!

So, yesterday and today the Fall flea market was held at the Fire Hall.

We had a small crowd but that didn’t stop us from having a good time visiting with each other. If sellers made some money, who knows how many buyers were auxilliary members!

Last fall, I shared lots of pictures of the kinds of things you can find at this flea market. (See https://marykisner.com/exploring-an-indoor-yard-sale-or-flea-market/)

This year had similar items but different ones. Halloween and Christmas seemed to be the theme for some tables and I was able to pick up my Halloween costume very inexpensively!

Here are some other treasures for sale:

And finally…my Halloween Costume!

So that was how I spent my day. Now I’m set for Halloween and Christmas! A good time was had by all! Watch for information for our next flea market in the Spring.

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

The Boalsburg Village Conservancy is hoping you take advantage of the many things to see and do during the Memorial Day weekend celebration. While Main Street and Church Street will be filled with over 115 vendors and entertainment on the Diamond on May 30, three specific locations invite you to check them out.

For a general overview of the celebration and the specific musical entertainment, see https://marykisner.com/memorial-day-is-happening/ and https://marykisner.com/musical-entertainment-for-memorial day/.

The Boalsburg Heritage Museum (www.boalsburgheritagemuseum.org)

On the East end of Main Street, The Boalsburg Heritage Museum will offer a variety of activities to engage you and your family.

Follow the balloons to the Museum to tour the House, see antique carriages and wagons in the Barn, and sample a cookie baked on the Open-hearth Fireplace in the Summer Kitchen.

Listen to music all day long beginning at 10:00 with the Dan and Galla Musical Show. Enjoy delicious Bees Knees Coffee and food from The Cakeshop by Tati.

Chat with your friends and neighbors as you take a break and relax in our charming garden where you and your family can:

–play corn hole and other games,

–throw seed balls into the wetlands and have fun making art with nature,

–meet Mattee Stoichneff, a student at State College High School, who is the Centre County Grange Fair Queen, and

–meet Sandy Faller, who is a history major and the Museum intern. She is also a member of the Penn State Blue Band!

The Boal Mansion Museum (https://boalmuseum.com/)

On the West end of Boalsburg, The Boal Mansion’s estate grounds provide the perfect setting for our diverse activities as part of the Village-wide celebration. Enjoy live music, Civil War re-enactors, living history demos, great food, craft vendors and special museum tours!

The Boalsburg Fire Company (https://boalsburgfire.com/)

Carnival Information

The Boalsburg Fire Company sponsors the carnival held behind the fire hall. It will run from Thursday evening, May 26 through Monday, May 30, 2022.

Parade Information

The Parade will be Saturday, May 28, 2022. No preregistration is required. Line-up will begin at 3:00 p.m. with the Parade beginning at 5:00 p.m. “Rain or Shine.”

Marching groups will be staged at Blue Spring Park on Wagner St. Depending on weather prior to parade day, smaller vehicles participating in the parade may be staged at the park also. Large vehicles will be staged on W. Main Street. Personnel will be out to assist with further direction on parade day. Watch for the signs.

Please come and enjoy Memorial Day weekend with us!

Please comment or email me directly if you have questions at marykisner@comcast.net.

The Boalsburg Village Conservancy has finalized the musical entertainment for the Memorial Day celebration on May 30, 2022. Music has always provided the backdrop to the ongoing activities of the day. We hope you come and enjoy it while checking out the many vendors and their wares. If you’d like to learn more about the history of Boalsburg, see www.historicboalsburg.com.

The Boalsburg Heritage Museum (www.boalsburgheritagemuseum.org) at the East end of Main Street will be open for visitors. Background music will be available all day, including music on the Museum porch by Dan & Galla. They offer a mixed selection of upbeat folk music and popular standards of the ’50s and ’60s, country, ragtime, polkas, pop and patriotic music. You can learn more about their music at www.gallaanddan.com.

The Boal Mansion Museum (www.boalmuseum.com) will host light musical entertainment on the grounds throughout the day. Their events include:

10:30 to 11:30 a.m.-The Bellefonte Community Band

12:30 to 1:30 p.m.-JT Thompson & The Denicats

2:30 to 4:30 p.m.-OverheaD

On the Diamond at Main Street and Church Street, the line-up of musical groups is varied and entertaining.

10:30 to 11:30 a.m.-You’ll be able to enjoy the State College High School Jazz Band. These young folks always have a rousing performance to get you in the mood to explore the many vendors on Main Street.

11:30 to 12:00-The A Cappella Choir from St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy in Boalsburg will showcase their lovely voices.

12:00 to 1:00 p.m.-The Little German Band will present lively entertainment in the German “oompah” style that features bass horn, trombone, clarinet and trumpet. This group has been performing around Centre County since the 1960’s. You can read more about them on Facebook.

12:30 p.m.-Dancing around the May Pole. (More about that as we get closer to the event!)

1:30 to 2:30 p.m.-Music by The Screaming Ducks. They have been a force for Classic Rock in Center County for over 30 years. They’re a regular addition to the Boalsburg Memorial Day festivities. You can learn more about them on Facebook.

2:30 to 3:00 p.m.-When you are ready to take a restful break, please pull up a chair (or curb) and enjoy a smooth and mellow half hour with Bob Timney. His offerings of acoustic, acoustic rock and pop music will give you that rest. He can be found on Facebook and you can listen to some of his music at www.reverbnation.com/bobtimney/songs.

3:00 to 4:00 p.m.-To end the afternoon of musical entertainment, the final group at the Diamond will be Pure Cane Sugar. This is a female-fronted Americana band based out of State College, PA. With descriptors such as “sultry voices, soulful harmonies and powerful lyrics,” this last group should leave you feeling like it’s been a good Memorial Day celebration!

Ceremony at the Church Cemetery

6:00 p.m.-As part of the solemn ceremony at the Cemetery, music will be offered by the Nittany Knights. They sing a cappella in the barbershop style of harmony. This international, non-profit organization, first chartered in 1962, performs at many community activities.

Please join us for Memorial Day in Boalsburg, 2022. To read about the whole five-day celebration, check out the overview at: https://marykisner.com/memorial-day-2022-is-happening/. Enjoy!

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

After two years of having to cancel our Memorial Day activities here in Boalsburg, we are pleased to be able to say…it will be happening in 2022! Boalsburg is one of just a few towns to proudly claim to be the originator of “Memorial Day” activities. If you’d like to learn more about the history of Boalsburg, see www.historicboalsburg.com.

In 2020, all summer events around here were cancelled around here…from Memorial Day through the 4th of July to the various Arts Festivals throughout the summer. In 2021, we were able to have the brief service at the cemetery to honor military veterans and loved ones, but the community-wide events were cancelled again. I’m sure they were cancelled near you too. This year, we are ready to resume the 5-day event, culminating on Monday, May 30, 2022, with our Day in Towne activities.

We are pleased that almost 100 vendors have committed to joining us for the day-long celebration. Leading up to Memorial Day, we have the Boalsburg Fire Company-sponsored carnival beginning on Thursday, May 26 through Monday, May 30.

Saturday will be the parade and Sunday will be the more serious Walk to the Cemetery, re-enacting the very first time three local women honored their loved ones who had died by decorating their graves.

Activities on Monday, May 30 will be offered from one end of town to the other. The Boalsburg Heritage Museum on one end of Main Street will offer tours of the Museum and grounds, soup and pie for sale and musical entertainment for visitors. You can see their website at www.boalsburgheritagemuseum.org. If you’d like to see pictures from my tour of the Museum, see my story at https://marykisner.com/exploring-the-boalsburg-heritage-museum/.

Our vendors will have unique items for sale along Main Street and Church Street, with musical entertainment on the Diamond in the middle of town. At the other end of town, the Boal Mansion and Christopher Columbus Chapel will also offer tours, food and musical entertainment on their grounds. If you’d like to check out more about the Boal Mansion, see www.boalmansion.com/.

Memorial Day in Boalsburg is truly a community-wide event. We’d be pleased to have you join us for the festivities!

Please leave comments or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

Yesterday I attended an Open House at the Boalsburg Heritage Museum. This is truly a hidden treasure in our small community. I’ve known about it for years but had not managed to make the time to explore the building and grounds.

At least 40 years ago, when I was teaching elementary school in Boalsburg, one of my colleagues was actively involved in helping her young classes learn about the history of the local area. These youngest students would learn to read using stories about the “olden days” in Boalsburg. She was instrumental in developing curriculum materials and organizing field trips to see the artifacts to learn how folks lived in the Boalsburg area back in the late 1800’s. Ruth Corter’s advocacy stimulated community interest in collecting and preserving tools, household items and stories in a museum that could be enjoyed by all residents of the area. Her work inspired us all!

In 1983, the Sarah Sweet house was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Aikens who presented the property to the newly formed Museum Association as a gift. The property of the Sarah Sweet House, currently the site of the Boalsburg Heritage Museum includes the house itself along with the Light House, the 2008 rebuild of the Bank Barn, and the Summer Kitchen. You can read more details about how the house and property became the Boalsburg Heritage Museum as their website, https://boalsburgheritagemuseum.org.

I’d like to share a few special displays that I found in my exploration of the museum.

How wonderful to see this tribute to Ruth Corter (1907-1997) presented in 1996:

If you’d like to know more about Ruth, you can see her obituary at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86721164/ruth-h-corter. She was a most inspiring educator!

The first room in the Museum had information about how ice was collected and stored before electric refrigerators were common. The displays about the process and the giant tools used to cut and collect the ice were very interesting.

I love the display of the ice box with instructions to the housewife:

Many musical instruments were showcased, from brass instruments from the Boalsburg Brass Band (around 1861-1865) to the Parlor organ:

Who knew Dr. Richard Ishler (our family doctor) and his wife donated this Parlor organ!

One of the upstairs bedrooms was set up as a one-room school. I found this interesting, since both of my parents and my grandfather taught in one-room schools. Mother shared many stories about being a “city-girl” trying to adapt to a “rural school” setting, with keeping the stove fire going and handling all the grades in one room. Some of her students were bigger than she was!

And of course, what child in 1900 wouldn’t want to play with this doll house!

I took the time to see the “Summer Kitchen” in a separate outbuilding near the back of the house. I could imagine all the bread and stews that were cooked in that kitchen!

On a nice day this summer, I’ll explore more of the outbuildings. For this tour, the drizzling cold rain limited my tromping around.

Please check the Museum’s website for more information. They are an integral part of our yearly Memorial Day activities and offer a wonderful look into our past.

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

Yesterday I spent the day helping with the indoor yard sale sponsored by the Ladies Auxiliary to the Boalsburg Fire Company. The fire hall was filled with tables that were rented out to individuals in the community to display their own items for sale. This was closer to the Flea Market model. I helped with the table displaying items from the members of the Ladies Auxiliary.

Sales formats of markets could be classified by size…like yard sales (with one seller), flea markets (with many individual sellers), or estate sales (providing the goods from one family estate); or by the kind of goods, like hand crafted items, glassware or tools.

It is easy for me to get overwhelmed when I first go to a sale. So many neat things available, so many choices! I am easily distracted by things that folks have offered for sale. Of course, I really don’t NEED any more stuff, but as a crafter and seamstress, I’m especially attracted to beautiful things other creative people have made.

Often, I’ll find evidence of the kinds of things folks collect, from glassware or jewelry to puzzles and collector dolls.

I especially enjoy talking with the sellers. It’s fun to find out where they find their items, what motivated them to collect certain items or how they made the items for sale.

I managed to control myself and found only a few things that just had to come home with me.

It would be so easy to fall in love with many items offered for sale, like old toys that I remember from long ago or a beautiful glass vase that would just go with my decor. However, at this stage in my life I must remember I still have a lot of stuff in my cupboards that should probably grace a yard sale table at some point!

I also enjoy exploring yard sales and flea markets for items I can repurpose, like the vintage hankies I picked up at the Apple Hill Antique Store (see https://marykisner.com/finding-vintage-fabric-at-apple-hill-antiques/).

Yesterday, I resisted picking up things I would never use and went with the lovely tote bag I will use and some books the grandkids might enjoy reading.

Explore a yard sale or flea market near you! Enjoy!

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.