IF YOU GO
| WHAT: Christkindlmarkt Holiday Market and Festival |
| WHERE: The Hershey Story Museum in Hershey, Pa. |
| Distance: 140 miles from D.C. |
| Tickets and more info: hersheystory.org |
With the many fine artisan craft shows in the District and surrounding suburban areas, there is really no justification for the two-hour car trip to Hershey, Pa., to find lovely handmade items for the holiday season, right? Well, say you wanted an authentic, heirloom Shaker table or rocker. Wouldn’t you travel a bit for the real McCoy? If the crowds flocking to the Hershey Story’s Christkindlmarkt Holiday Market and Festival each year are any indication, the answer is a resounding yes! German traditions, holiday treasures and unique shopping are highlights of today’s festival featuring 19 skilled artisans selling unique handmade items, many in the Pennsylvania German style of craftsmanship. The floors of the Hershey Story Museum will have a bazaarlike feel with tables and stands exhibiting everything from hand-hewn 18th-century furniture to hand-woven coverlets and Pennsylvania clay redware to place on these pieces.
“It’s exciting to host an event that combines the holidays and the museum’s unique heritage,” said Sara Ensminger, spokeswoman for the M.S. Hershey Foundation. “Although Christkindlmarkt began in 1994 as a simple holiday celebration of the museum’s Pennsylvania German collection, it’s grown into a larger community celebration. Many families come as a holiday tradition.”
Exhibitors and their specialties include Lisa Head selling willow bark and rye straw baskets, Tom Head with painted pine wood carvings, John Tyler selling wrought-iron Colonial-style household utensils, Donna Kriebel with American folk art paintings and Anne Piazza selling her unique, porcelain Christmas ornaments.
“Our goal when [my husband and I] started this was to compete with Wedgewood, Limoges, Herend and Belleek, the finest porcelains in the world,” Piazza said. “But there was no porcelain made here in this country.”
Since 1993, the couple have made their porcelain in Pennsylvania and have no intention of taking the process overseas. Exhibiting at Hershey for the past 15 years, the Piazzas decorated the main Christmas tree at Longwood Gardens for two years. Famous commissions for Piazza’s fine detail work have come from Laura Bush for her White House tree and the King family to present as a birthday gift for Coretta Scott King. Piazza’s detailing on the ornaments is raised and the paint applied with tiny syringes. Detailed dots are painted in 24-karat gold leaf. Anne calls each delicate porcelain piece “truly heirloom” and notes that each costs between $35 and $55.
In addition to the fine crafts available at the museum, there is also entertainment by Hobby Chor, the popular men’s chorus of the Lancaster Liederkranz Club, to regale festivalgoers with rousing German songs. Traditional German food is offered in the museum’s Cafe Zooka and visitors may also view items from the Hershey Story Museum’s notable Pennsylvania German collection.
The festival closes today, but with doors wide-open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., there is plenty of time for Washington-area residents to get up to Hershey in search of the “real deal” — both literally and figuratively!
