BAKER — Flying cypress chips, bluegrass music and the aroma of fresh pork cracklins and boiled peanuts will fill the air Saturday at the Baker Block Museum and Heritage Park.
The museum's Heritage Day is an annual celebration of Northwest Florida traditions, with demonstrations and displays of crafts, history exhibits, folk music performances and lots of food.
As the festival's popularity grows, more and more groups ask to participate, Museum Director Ann Spann said.
"We have a full park this year," she said. "All our booth space is taken."
Vendors, exhibitors and historic societies fill the park's open areas around historic buildings including an old post office, "dog-trot" house, timber company store and an outhouse.
Historic re-enactors demonstrate blacksmithing, cypress shingle making, soap making, butter churning and quilting.
Vintage, lovingly restored Model T and Model A Ford vehicles will be displayed in front of the museum, which will be open during the festival, Spann said.
History to take home
For the second year, the heritage association will sell its "Lost North Okaloosa Calendar," featuring vintage photos of lost landmarks including schools, churches and stores.
Both volumes of "The Heritage of Okaloosa County" and other local history and heritage books will be available.
Local produce and baked goods will be for sale. Activities include colonial games, pony rides and a petting zoo, Spann said. Live music includes local gospel, folk, bluegrass and country artists.
Regional American Indian groups will share their tribes' traditions. History booths also include representatives from Laurel Hill and the Walton County Heritage Society.
Historians and archeologists will staff two archeology booths to address attendees’ questions, Spann said.
"People can bring artifacts and have them identified," she said.
The annual festival draws attendees and participants from throughout Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties, as well as Alabama.
"People come from all directions for the Heritage Day," Spann said.
Want to go?
WHAT:Baker Heritage Day Festival, sponsored by the Northwest Florida Heritage Association
WHEN:9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 2
WHERE: Baker Block Museum and Heritage Park, State Roads 4 and 189, Baker
COST: Free admission
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Saturday's Baker Heritage Day offers food, music and history demos