Monday, October 25, 1999
Event captures spirit of past
Music, crafts, cider among offerings
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
As elements of pioneer life bustle in the background, Ben pedigo of Ripley, Ohio, picks up his guitar and sings Sunday.
(Gary Landers photo)
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UNION TOWNSHIP — Cliff Dziech understands the power of the press.
“You're not gonna have any Y2K problems with this,” he said, resting a hand on his family heirloom apple cider press made by J.L. Haven & Co. of Cincinnati.
The press, patented in 1872, belonged to his wife's grandfather, a Colerain Township apple farmer.
Sunday, it was a star at Pioneer Day at the Cincinnati Nature Center at Rowe Woods.
Mr. Dziech had no problem finding takers for fresh cider on a blue-sky, crimson-leaf afternoon.
The free event featured re-enactments of early-1800s prairie life crafts and woodworking, butter-making and blacksmithing. A flute and banjo added music of the period.
“It's fantastic,” Margaret Whitehouse of Terrace Park said of her free fresh-squeezed cider. “I think cider is God's gift to creation, don't you think?”
Or at least, God's gift to building forearm muscles.
Rachel Ellis, 6, of Loveland, twisted her face as she tried to turn the press handle. “I think there's still a fascination with the way people used to do things,” her father, Richard Ellis, said.
And so it is with Christmas ornaments, which Bob McFalls of Crestview Hills whittled from box elder wood using a Jet mini-lathe.
Box elder's downside is also its upside. Beetle droppings cause a fungus that kills the tree but also leavea a red-and-tan marble wood pattern.
“The crafts were wonderful,” said Celia Carpenter of Anderson Township, who with her husband, Jim, bought a curved bird-feeder from one of the blacksmiths.
“He said, "If you have 10 bucks and 15 minutes, I'll make ya one,'” Mrs. Carpenter recalled.
They figured it would be, like history itself, time well-spent.
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