Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com
—
Long before summerfests, fall foliage festivals and harvest fairs made their debuts in the region, a small group of arts-minded Johnstown-area residents decided to give artists and crafters a venue to sell their wares.
What was for a few years the Association of Allied Artists, later to become known as the Cambria County Arts Center, 40 years ago launched the Log House Arts Festival.
Held annually during the Labor Day weekend, the festival kicked off Saturday at the Community Arts Center of Cambria County, 1217 Menoher Blvd., and will continue today from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It is just one of many events being held this weekend in the Cambria-Somerset area:
• The 119th Cambria County Fair opens today and continues through Saturday in Ebensburg.
• The Cambria City Ethnic Festival started Friday and will continue today in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.
• The Forest Hills Labor Day Festival will continue today and Monday at Berwind Wayside Festival Park in St. Michael.
• Also on tap is the Fall Harvest Gospel Music Festival in Hooversville, while the third annual “Cruisin’ the Flood City” car show was held at Central Park in downtown Johnstown on Saturday.
The crowd at the log festival was heavy Saturday afternoon after the hot, humid temperatures of the past week gave way to cooler weather.
“It all started with tables,” Rose Mary Hagadus, the arts center’s executive director, said of the festival 40 years ago. “Now it’s really a professional thing.”
The festival features 110 vendors – the absolute maximum the Log House grounds can hold – and organizers strive to offer only the finest in handcrafted items.
“We want to see pictures, Hagadus said of new vendors at the festival. “We also look for a wide range.”
Some vendors, including outdoor wood crafter Ron Anderson and potter M.J. Lech, said the sluggish economy was taking its toll on sales.
“Last year was bad,” said Anderson, of the New Castle area.
This year isn’t much better, he added.
Lech, a math teacher at Johnstown High School and a vendor at the festival for nearly 30 years, thinks her sales are down in part because of the economy, but also because of the loss of the widely popular FolkFest.
“People would go to that, then they would come over here,” Lech said.
FolkFest has been transformed into a music festival that this year was held in early August.
The Cambria City Ethnic Festival continues on a smaller scale.
Sales were brisk for Barb and Dick McCracken of Waynesboro, Franklin County, who were selling braided rugs, table mats and chair pads.
The chilly morning temperatures slowed the crowd some, but things picked up as the weather warmed, Barb McCracken said.
Many of the festivalgoers, whether veterans or newcomers, found the merchandise, food and music a delight.
Jennifer Deitker of Richland has been coming to the Log House event for 25 years.
“It’s a tradition. We’re headed out to St. Michael now,” she said.
Carla Portash of Portage, a newcomer to the festival, visited with veteran Log House festivalgoer Bernadette Sheehan of Ferndale, a co-worker at the Cambria County courthouse. Both vowed they will be back next year.
“Nothing is cheap-looking and the gobs are really good,” Portash said.
Live music provided by a wide range of musicians throughout the day drew hundreds of people to the front of the Goldhaber-Fend Fine Arts Gallery.
Especially popular was local band “Dead Irish Blues,” who pleased listeners with ditties about getting old, death and dying. The songs included one that brought Tammy Rainolla of Pittsburgh to her feet to dance.
“You’re bound to look like a monkey (when you grow old),” sang Greg Faiers.
“I come every year for the music, and I have friends in Johnstown,” said Rainolla as she looked for someone to dance with.
The festival is the major fundraiser for the arts center, but the event not only raises money, it also raises awareness of the center and the arts, Hagadus said.
“What it does for us is it brings in people who would not necessarily come to see artwork,” she said.
Side streets around the Log House grounds were parked full Saturday, while many also took advantage of a free shuttle bus provided from Memorial Medical Center’s parking lot on Menoher Boulevard near Grandview Cemetery.
