East Texas

By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer

HENDERSON -- Northeast Texas' only folk life and folk art festival unfolds 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It is expected to have a wide geographical appeal and draw approximately 20,000 fun-seekers.

For its 20th year, the Heritage Syrup Festival will provide an opportunity to step back in time to see ribbon cane syrup-making, weavers, spinners, wood carvers, an herbist, lace makers, basket makers, a blacksmith, lye soap making, a sawmill, a print shop, a homemade broom factory, a chuck wagon cooking demonstration and many other attractions.

Entertainment will range from a Wild West shootout to a melodrama, arts and crafts, shopping in the historic register district, an antique tractor and engine display, an antique and classic car exhibit, activities for children and performances on two stages featuring Blue Grass, cloggers, square dancers and traditional music.

As its name implies, one of the biggest events will be old-time ribbon cane syrup making -- a reminder that at the turn of the century, almost every East Texas community had a syrup mill. In those days, people grew a little cane in their garden and took the cane to the mill to have it made into syrup for something sweet for the holidays.

A pan about 100 years old that was donated by an old plantation in Rusk County and a crushing mill dating to about 1935 is used in the syrup-making demonstration, along with a ton of cane, to show people the process, techniques and skills needed. The Rusk County Syrup Team, consisting of about 10 members, will make the syrup.

The festival is an all-day kind of event simultaneously staged in two locations -- the downtown historic district where many of the buildings date to the 1870s and a few blocks away at the four-acre Depot Museum complex, 514 N. High St. For a dollar, a hay ride shuttle provided by Rusk County 4-H Clubs will haul festival-goers back and forth between the two sites throughout the day any number of times.

"There's something for everybody," said Susan Weaver, museum director.

The festival features games and other activities for children, educational attractions for children and adults alike, shopping for unique gifts, entertainment, demonstrations of folk life skills and an opportunity to reminisce and see again how things used to be done.

"We attract a lot of the older folk because they want to come and see somebody run a saw mill once again because somebody in their family did that or they want to see syrup made. And they bring their children a lot of times to tell them about things they did as a child and share those moments with them," Ms. Weaver said.

A new attraction will be the unveiling of a cotton gin moved from U.S. 259 and reassembled on the museum grounds. Mark Barts and his wife donated the gin, believed to be the last complete cotton gin in East Texas. Rusk County Historical Commission raised about $100,000 for relocating the gin and constructing a building for it. It is the biggest project ever undertaken by the museum.

All the equipment is installed, but the museum plans to wait about conducting a dedication ceremony for the gin until interpretations can be written and posted.

Downtown attractions will offer approximately 100 arts and crafts booths and the antique auto show. Henderson Civic Theater will stage about a 20-minute melodrama at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the old opera house, while the Texicans Old West Living History Show will be at 10:45 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

In Heritage Square, entertainment on Stage 1 will be provided by Loi Tyson, Spirit Fiddle, Digger Davis & Tombstone, Wise County and Shana Strange. Stage 2 between Citizen Bank and Western Auto will feature performances by the Rhythm Rockers, Red Romper's Square Dancers, Down Home Cloggers, The Reflections Square Dancers and Senior Circle Line.

Most of the performers are from East Texas, but Spirit Fiddle -- a champion fiddle player accompanied by a guitar player -- are from Boston, making their first visit to Texas.

Children's activities will include a moon walk, barrel train, pony rides, petting zoo, puppet shows, and more.

On the Depot Museum grounds, festival-goers can visit with juried folk artists and view old-timey skills such as quilting, spinning, and wood carvers. There will be a Story Telling Tent and a treasure hunt for children.

Also at the depot, a print shop featuring a linotype machine and hot type letter press will be in operation, as well as a saw mill, a broom factory once operated by a blind citizen and a blacksmith will be doing iron work.

OLD-TIMEY: An old reassembled cotton gin sits in a warehouse on Thursday in Henderson. The machine will be used during the town's upcoming Syrup Festival.
(Staff Photo By Mark Roberts)