A short history of the festival celebrating our heritage

This year marks the 38th year of the Tiffin-Seneca County Heritage Festival, and it keeps promoting Tiffin’s history. Following the founding of the Tiffin Historic Trust in 1976, work on a festival began. The Court Street Extravaganza took place in 1977 and 1978. The event included entertainment and activities consisting of the Gang Band, getting your photo taken in period clothing, chair caning and making jewelry for your hair. A couple of the founding members, Phil and Rayella Engle, had visited larger festivals in Ohio and wanted to host one in Tiffin, according to Erin Snook, one of the current festival’s organizers, said. From there, the Tiffin-Seneca Heritage Festival was created and the first took place Sept. 9, 1979. The first festival was on a Sunday using the Riverside cut-through behind The Ritz Theatre, part of Washington Street and Perry Street. As the festival continued to grow, Snook said, it began moving across the Sandusky River to Frost Parkway. Some of what took place on Frost Parkway included performances by dulcimer players, a Heidelberg College band and Mooseketeers, plus beauty contests, crafts, a farmers market and children’s artwork. The Living History Village, then termed the Primitive Village, was created adjacent to Pioneer Mill in 1990. The village, renamed, was later moved to Kernan Park at Tiffin Developmental Center and again to Hedges-Boyer Park in 2001, where it remains. “We hope and feel that our festival today still accomplishes some of the marketing goals set forth to promote Tiffin from the past,” Snook said. “We invite everyone we can to come visit Tiffin and enjoy everything our town and festival has to offer.” She said they continue to plan 11 months out of the year. “We never quit planning,” she said. The festival today offers some of the same attractions as back then, and some new. New to the village are the Guided Lantern Village Ghost Tours. Scheduled at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday, participants are to meet at the village gates and be escorted through Tiffin’s murder mysteries. “If you love ghost tours, you don’t want to miss this,” Snook said. Also new to the village will be the Seneca County Ohio Bicentennial Bell. “Can you believe 200 years of memories, 200 years of events, 200 years of history?” she said. “We have a lot to celebrate.” The bell is to be located in the village and on display Saturday and Sunday. The downtown area is to feature a new ride company, Big-O-Amusements, and, in Heritage Block, Willkommen, a new area celebrating German heritage. The heritage area is to be in the same block as The Ritz Theatre Saturday and Sunday. The area is to offer German food, entertainment and beer tasting. Here, attendees can see the Toledo Holzhacker Baum, a traditional dance group with the goal of preserving and maintaining its Bavarian heritage. The group is to perform 4-6 p.m. Saturday. Downtown, Snook said, is to have more food vendors than in the past. One of the events the festival prides itself on is the School Day’s program, Snook said. “We invite all Seneca County fourth grade students to visit the village that day (Friday),” she said. “It is a great day for kids to get out of class and experience hands-on living history, learning trades and skills from the past from actual craftsmen and demonstrators.” “The village puts the history in our heritage festival,” Snook said. “The village makes us unique, very few festivals are left across Ohio that host a Living History Village with re-enactors and demonstrators who actually live on site for the weekend. It is truly an art form that is becoming less and less. We are very proud of the dedicated people that continue to provide our children and community a glimpse into the past so it is not forgotten.”