Welcome to the 2018 Homestead Fair!
A Festival of Crafts, Homesteading Skills & Family Fun
Music • Food • Live Demonstrations • Displays • Seminars • Make-Your-Own • Horse-Drawn Hayrides • 18th-Century Barn Raising & Much More!
Preparations are well underway for the thousands of visitors who annually attend our 31st annual Homestead Fair in central Texas. To see all the Fair has to offer, plan to attend both Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend — November 23 and 24. There is something for all ages, so bring everyone in the family, young and old alike.
“Our highest attendance in the past was just over 20,000 and we are making improvements to accommodate an even larger number for 2018,” commented Fair director Josiah Wheeler. “This is our 31st annual Fair and we are expecting another record-breaking year .”
In addition to the Fairground acreage with craft and demonstration pavilions, a Make-Your-Own crafts, music tent, food courts/kiosks and agricultural exhibit areas, our shops in the adjacent Homestead Craft Village will be open, with craftsmen demonstrating crafts in their daily workplaces.
“We’re not a living history event,” said Wheeler, “but an exposition that celebrates the viability of real, working family homesteads and community life. It comes at the end of our harvest year and serves as an Open House to share the crafts, skills, accomplishments and life of our community with our friends and neighbors.”
We expand the Fair each year, incorporating new ideas, skills, construction, displays, craftsmen wares and foods. What’s new for 2018? A community wide built-and-outfitted tiny house! To complete the home, craftsmen of the community are have plans underway to create all the furnishings — from the rugs on the floor to the furniture, shelving, dishes, linens, decor and even the soap in the soap dishes!
Daily craft demonstrations include hand tool woodworking, blacksmithing, casting, pottery, quilting, spinning, weaving, broom making and more. Homesteading skills demonstrations and seminars range from apple cider pressing, cheese making, breadmaking, soap making and sustainable gardening to horse farming, sheep shearing, horse training, goat milking, beekeeping and more.
What are our most popular “Must See” events?
- Live music each afternoon/evening at 2:30 & 7 pm
- Sheepdog herding demonstration at 2 pm
- 18th century timber-frame barn raising at 11 am
Our Favorite Activities
- Fabulous foods and desserts at the Food Courts!
- Make-Your-Own Craft tent
- Horsedrawn hayrides & carriages
Horse-drawn hayrides and carriage tours operate both days. Shoppers will find thousands of hand-crafted items for sale at the craft pavilion, gift shop and booths. Food courts and kiosks offer dozens of food, beverage and dessert items of multicultural fare — made from scratch especially for the Fair.
Activities for children include a hay maze, farm animal petting pen and a mini-barn raising. Dozens of make-your-own projects are available for children and the not-so young – from making a basket to dipping a candle to making a toy wooden sailboat.
A wide variety of educational opportunities are presented throughout all areas of the Fair every hour on the hour. Popular seminar topics include Homesteading – An Option for Our Times, Sustainable Gardening, Raising Poultry, Aquaponics, Homestead Energy Alternatives, Collecting & Storing Water, Creative Writing, The Impact of Digital Technology and Why Live in Community?
You’ll want to plan ahead to be able squeeze in what everyone in the family wants to see and do.
Visit www.homesteadfair.com to see regular updates of our activities and schedules. Be sure to view the Fairgrounds Map under the More Info tab.
See you at the Fair!
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What — Homestead Craft Fair
When — 9 am to 9 pm — Nov 24 & 25 (Fri & Sat)
Where — 608 Dry Creek Road, Waco, TX 76705
Contact — www.HomesteadFair.com • 254.754.9600
Cost — No admission fee.
Parking pass — $10 at the gate, $7 online in advance, good for both days
