BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LOVELAND -- People of all ages come from all over the Tristate for the annual Heritage Weekend today and Sunday.
Children will have a special area to enjoy hands-on activities such as candle-dipping, spinning, woodworking and old-fashioned games during the fifth annual event, at the Greater Loveland Historical Society Museum, 201 Riverside Drive.
But there will be plenty for adults too, including a variety of 1800s-style craft demonstrations. The event usually draws about 1,000 people, said Jo Richardson, museum director.
"It's very much a family-oriented event," Ms. Richardson said. "We stress demonstrations of 1800s crafts. Things that we call a craft today, was a very necessary function in the 1800s." Many of the activities will be held in and around the 200-year-old Rich Log Cabin, including hearth cooking on Sunday, spinning demonstrations and more. Other activity sites include the museum grounds, the craft cottage and the Bonaventure House.
The hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, rain or shine. Admission and parking are free. Home-cooked food will be sold at the log cabin, with proceeds going to the Loveland Intermediate School Student Council. Those students are museum guides throughout the year, Ms. Richardson said.
"The craft cottage will be filled to the brim with all kinds of hand-crafted items, including bird houses, crocheted items, and hand-made stationery," the director said. "All these things are made by by a group of museum members who meet once monthly to make crafts to sell during the event."
Those proceeds help support the museum, she said. Visitors may tour the Memorial Herb Garden and buy herb plants, and browse the museum gift shop and the C. Roger Nisbet Library.
Other crafts or activities include: soap making, hand-cut paper snowflakes, quilting, woodworking, fortune-telling, pottery making, period bonnets and costumes, hand-made teddy bears, lace making, blacksmithing, basket making, quill work, and storytelling.
A special feature is a new exhibit exploring the life and work of renowned photographer Nancy Ford Cones (1869-1962). More than 100 pieces of her work, plus her photography equipment and period costumes, are on display, Ms. Richardson said.
