Family Easter Party
Saturday, April 3 from 9am - Noon
Fun for the entire family including: toy hunts, preschool Bunnyland, live rabbit exhibits, barnyard animal walk, horse and wagon rides, traditional games and egg decorating. Visit the print shop, general store, drug store and blacksmith in the town of Walnut Hill. Free pop, popcorn and steak and egg wrap for all.
Price: $5/person, $4.50 LHF members and pre-sold groups of 10 or more.
Historic Baseball Season
Join the Walnut Hill Bluestockings for a season of vintage baseball! Watch the home team compete in 1870s-rules baseball game at the Walnut Hill Field. Cheer the batters or “strikers” as they call their pitch and “Leg it” to first. Support the team captain as he argues with the umpire and see if the one bounce rule will be enforced or if new fangled ideas of “catching on the fly” will prevail. The team makes sure kids have a chance to bat around at the end of the game! Games on May 2, May 31, June 6, July 4, July 18, Aug 8, Sept 5, Sept 19, and Oct. 3. All games begin at 2:00--except for July 4th (2:30).
40th Anniversary Celebration
Sneak Preview
Saturday, May 1st 3:00 – 5:00pm
FREE to Members, Volunteers, and Donors
This special afternoon is a sneak peek at new and exciting happenings at Living History Farms during the 2010 season, as well as a look back at how Living History Farms has grown over 40 years! Enjoy visual and performing artists, traditional lawn games, children’s activities, a scavenger hunt, barn dance and much more! As a member, donor, or volunteer you will receive a special VIP wristband for admittance to a special celebration tent, which will have refreshments, music, and special activities. It’s our birthday and since you are one of us, it wouldn’t be a celebration without you. So make plans now to attend our 40th Anniversary Party Saturday, May 1st from 3-5PM!
Family Weekend: 40th Birthday Party
Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2
Come help us celebrate our 40th Birthday with music, children’s craft activities, free popcorn, historic birthday traditions, visiting folk tradesmen and horses. Enjoy the return of historic baseball with the Bluestockings opener at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
History Snapshot: Decoration Day
Monday, May 31
Bring the family and become a part of America’s first Memorial Day traditions. Enjoy a rousing patriotic concert by the Walnut Hill Choral Society at noon in the Church of the Land. At 1:00 pm, march in a town procession down Main Street to the town cemetery for a moving pageant of Victorian speech and song, honoring the Union’s fallen heroes. After the ceremony, watch the Walnut Hill Bluestockings compete in a 1870s-rules baseball game at the Walnut Hill Field.
Give Us A Hand Activity Program
Tuesday, June 1 through Sunday, August 15
Give the historic interpreters a hand with their chores and historic tasks. Children and adults can assist staff with hands-on activities at a variety of historic sites. From grinding corn to printing a handbill, or churning butter to grooming an ox, varied activities are offered every day from June 1 through August 15. Activities take place from 10 am-Noon and 1 pm-3 pm and vary from day to day. Specific daily activities are posted at the LHF Visitor Center; all activities are weather dependent.
Family Weekend: Family Heritage
Saturday June 5 and Sunday June 6
Connect with your family’s roots as we celebrate the family tree. Hands on activities will focus on gathering and preserving family history and traditions, and trying select folk heritage handcrafts. Visit with local folk tradesmen about the heritage of their craft and explore the Irish and Norwegian roots of the Flynn Country Home and Tangen House.
History Snapshot: Victorian Funeral
Saturday, June 12
Explore the rituals surrounding death and loss in the Victorian era as the 1875 town of Walnut Hill experiences a funeral. At the Tangen House the family prepares the parlor for the re-created funeral of a loved one. Visit with an interpreter in "widow’s weeds" and discover mourning traditions such as black draping, stopping clocks, and funeral invitations. At 1:00 pm, join in a solemn procession, led by a horse-drawn hearse, as it makes its way from the house to New Hope Cemetery. Visitors may join in dropping dust on the coffin at the cemetery and enjoy hearing a hymn sung by the Walnut Hill Choral Society.
Family Weekend: Independence Weekend
Saturday, July 3 and Sunday, July 4
Saturday is an All-American Ice Cream Float Day with free root beer floats, Civil War era music in the bandstand from 1-4 pm, games, and children’s crafts. On Sunday, enjoy an old-fashioned Fourth with a historic Independence Day celebration in the town of Walnut Hill including pie eating contests, foot races, spelling bees, watermelon seeding spitting contests and more! On Sunday, enjoy a concert by the Walnut Hill Choral Society at 12:30 pm and then a patent medicine show at 1:30 pm. At 2:00 pm, join in an 1875 Independence Day parade with a brass band followed by a period 1875-rules baseball game at 2:30 pm.
Behind the Barn Free Concert Series
Wednesday, July 7, 6-9pm; Wednesday, August 4 6-9pm; and Wednesday, September 1 6-9pm
Bring a blanket or lawn chair and gather behind the Flynn barn for an evening of live music. Food concessions and cash bar with pop, beer and wine will be available. Please no outside coolers or beverages.
History Snapshot: Circuit Court Hearing
Saturday, July 17, 1-4 pm
Join the citizens of Walnut Hill at the C.H. Taylor Law Offices for an afternoon of law and order. Lawyers, witnesses, judge and court clerks, re-created by costumed interpreters, will present real court cases from 1870s Iowa courts. Museum guests will sit on the jury and find out if their verdicts match those from the 19th century! Cases last approximately 20 minutes.
Family Weekend: Threshing Days
Saturday August 7- Sunday August 8
From hand power to horsepower, witness it all as you hear the smash of the flail, the roar of the steam-powered thresher, and the clicking of the cutter bar. Experience the many methods used to harvest oats and wheat from 1850 to the present and help bring in the harvest that will feed our animals throughout the winter. Demonstrations will be weather dependent. Visit the children’s craft center in the barn and enjoy free popcorn and lemonade.
History Snapshot: Pioneer Wedding
Saturday, August 14
Join the 1850 farm staff as they recreate a pioneer wedding celebration, including the wedding ceremony, dancing and wedding cake. The pioneer farm family looked forward to weddings as a chance for neighbors and friends to gather. Traditional foods and fun were always a part of the festivities. Groomsmen might play a good-natured prank on the wedding couple. LHF visitors will become part of the day’s fun, with ceremonies at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm.
Family Weekend: Farmer’s Fall Carnival - NEW
Saturday, September 4 and Sunday, September 5
Spend the weekend enjoying the sights and sounds of a small town fair! Walnut Hill will celebrate the fall with a mix of modern and Victorian entertainments including music, carnival games and strolling players. Enjoy pony rides, a melodrama, old-fashioned carnival games and the 1875 traveling museum of curiosities. Also a variety of hand-cranked, band and fair organs will share their music throughout the weekend, as members of the Carousel Organ Association of America gather for their rally.
Photography Day
Saturday, September 18
Enjoy a day of photography workshops in Iowa’s largest outdoor classroom! Take a lens for a “test drive” from the Canon or Nikon representatives. Photography experts will be on hand to offer classes and will be out in the field to help you perfect your photography technique. Amateurs as well as professionals are encouraged to attend. Sponsored by Christian Photography, all workshops are included with admission price to Living History Farms.
The Ties That Bind: A Historic Quilt Show
September 29 – October 3
Thirty rarely seen historic quilts from the nationally recognized Living History Farms quilt collection will be on display in the Church of the Land along with historic clothing and household textiles. Children's hands-on activities include quilt block coloring and sewing cards.
Family Weekend: Harvest Fest
October 2 & 3
Visit our historic farms and master the techniques of handpicking corn. Take a horse-drawn wagon ride into the fields to watch working machinery used to harvest corn from 1910-1950. In town, enjoy the fruits of fall as you stir a copper kettle of apple butter, crank the cider press, and sample fresh apple fritters. Music, children’s games and crafts round out the fun.
Family Halloween Nights
October 21-24 and 28-31 from 5:30 – 8:30pm
Horse-drawn wagon rides, marshmallow roast, storytellers, scarecrow and jack-o-lantern displays delight all during this non-scary family event. Children aged 12 and under trick or treat through town, and free pop and popcorn for all. Prices: $5/person, $4.50 LHF members and pre-sold groups of 10 or more.
Prairie Christmas
December 4, 12-4 pm
Enjoy a holiday open house with a prairie feel. The Tangen home will be decorated for the season and bustling with party preparations and music. Take a horse-drawn wagon ride to the General Store and the Church for an old fashioned holiday social with music, games, tree trimming and Santa Claus. Taffy pulls and children's crafts make this a festive afternoon on the prairie. The Marketplace and a special children's Santa's Workshop will be open for holiday shopping. Prices: $5/person, $4.50 LHF members and pre-sold groups of 10 or more.
