Sat., March 24, 10-3, 19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Newfield’s Maple Syrup Event & Irish Celebration at Newfield
Sat., March 24, 10-3, 19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Newfield’s Maple Syrup Event & Irish Celebration at Newfield
Saturday, March 24, 10am – 3pm, 19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Newfield will have a Maple Syrup Event and Irish Celebration, 70 Elm Street, Newfield, ME 04056. The event offers samplings of food flavored with maple syrup, including baked goods, and our traditional offering of ginger ice cream drizzled with maple syrup as well as some homemade Irish beef stew to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Local maple syrup is for sale. There will be demonstrations of tree tapping and ongoing sugaring off at the museum’s temporary “sugar shack.” There is an egg hunt for kids with a prize for participation. Draft horse sled rides and blacksmithing demos too.
There will be a hands-on woodworking activity with a take home coat rack produced by the industrious and interested. There will be sweets and savories at the Red Barn Building. Mark Matteau, Scarborough letterpress printer of the Dunstan Press will be working with several recent students of a class on printing projects at the Cram Printing Office. Frank Vivier will be teaching a class of knife making at the Blacksmithing Shop. There might be several hammering away in the Tom Flagg smithy; remember that Newfield was once a place of five blacksmith shops and a dozen carriage makers.
Next to the Flagg smithy will be Aaron Boyce of Madison with his team of Percheron draft horses for rides ($5); the event is free but rides and food have a fee to support the museum. The Percherons will be pulling either a bob sleigh or wagon for rides weather depending. Don’t forget to check out several videos underway in the Red Barn Building next to the Newfield Post Office. , including one on maple sugaring in Newfield and another on the historical origins of maple sugaring.
The museum can use some volunteers for set up on Friday, March 23, 10-3, if you can make it. They can also use help on the day of the event; they’re looking for a new generation of people to help perpetuate a museum that have served four generations into the future. Give them a call at 207-205-4849. This is the Curran’s 25th year as a Maine non-profit educational resource. The museum was the donation of Alfred and Catherine Curran of Orrington, who wanted their 300 plus acre farm in Orrington forever remain as they knew it since the family purchased it in 1914. The Currans came to the Orrington area as early as the 1830s from Ireland. The Newfield site has served the public since 1970 as a museum and was gifted to the non-profit Curran Homestead in January, 2017. New developments are underway including an ice house to be built at the Newfield museum before students on school field trips arrive this May; come out and learn about the Curran mission and how you might contribute to keeping history alive for a new generation for the challenges of today and the future.
The program is free but the museum welcomes donations and purchase of food offerings and bob sleigh or wagon rides. For additional information visit the museum’s website: curranhomestead.org , its Facebook page, or call 207-205-4849 or 207-745-4426. Learn about our classes in knife making, blacksmithing letterpress printing, bookbinding, woodworking and more…