NewsOctober 29, 2024

Experience the charm of Heritage Days at Barks Plantation with traditional crafts, fall activities, and community spirit. Discover weaving, chainsaw carving, and more in this celebration of history and culture.

Emily Fountain Music performs Oct. 19 at Heritage Days.
Emily Fountain Music performs Oct. 19 at Heritage Days.Daniel Winningham~The Banner Press
Nehemiah, left, and Noel Gregory of Scopus visited Heritage Days Oct. 19 at the Barks Plantation near Glen Allen.
Nehemiah, left, and Noel Gregory of Scopus visited Heritage Days Oct. 19 at the Barks Plantation near Glen Allen.Daniel Winningham~The Banner Press
Bob Weston shows a carved pumpkin.
Bob Weston shows a carved pumpkin.Daniel Winningham~The Banner Press
Lorrie Yount works her loom at Heritage Days.
Lorrie Yount works her loom at Heritage Days.Daniel Winningham~The Banner Press
Two women try their luck bobbing for apples at Heritage Days.
Two women try their luck bobbing for apples at Heritage Days.Daniel Winningham~The Banner Press

Heritage Days at Barks Plantation took place Saturday, Oct. 19. There were a variety of events and activities, such as bobbing for apples, demonstrations on how to make straw brooms, the use of old farm equipment such as plows and disks pulled by either mules or tractors

Lorrie Young of Glen Allen was working her loom, making rugs.

“This is called a loom and what I’m doing is called traditional rag rug weaving, Yount said. I’m taking literally rags and scraps from this and that and making it into a nice usable product, whether that’s rug, a table runner, placemats, it’s very versatile. You take the loom and you cut the fabric into strips and sew the strips together and then you weave it on the loom.”

The width for this rug is set at approximately 13 inches wide, but Young said the “length can be as long as you want.”

“All these threads are back here on the warp beam, they are fed through this part right here which is called the harness,” Yount said. “The harness is connected to a treadle. The main thing is making the edges looking nice and meet. You kind of what your fabric in there like an arch.”

Yount said a great deal of variation can be used with whatever item is being weaved on the loom.

“It depends on what you’re weaving,” she said.

Weaving through the use of a loom is something Yount has done for several years.

“I’m a fourth generation rug weaver,” Yount said. “My great grandmother founded the business back in Ava, Illinois.

The business started because my great grandma and four others went in together, back the building, the loom, the showcases, everything. They just make a verbal agreement that the last one surviving would get everything.”

She moved to business to Missouri in 2020 and they have a location close to Burfordville.

Floor rugs remain a big item, Yount said.

“We do very few custom orders,” she said. “Most of the custom orders that I receive are what I called memory rugs. Clothing from deceased family members. If you’ve got blue jean pants from a father or mother who passed away we can make it into a rug.”

Yount said flannel bed sheets and corduroy pants could be used, or any other leftover yardage.

“The definition of weaving is basically just the crossing or interlocking of threads, as you continually change treadles, it’s crossing those threads for you,” Yount said.

Christy Reed of EC Mercantile was one of the event organizers.

“We’ve had the music, food, the demonstrators, like Everett (Reed with the broom), Bobby (Weston) with the wood carving and Lorrie (Yount) with the loom and the rugs,” Reed said. “We just wanted to start it to add another event for the community, to try and grow it.”

For children, there was a corn shucker and a petting zoo. They also had horse and buggy rides.

“(It was an opportunity to) just enjoy your neighbors, visiting, getting to know people in your community,” Reed said. “The vendors were just a bonus.”

Bob Weston was doing a little chain saw carving

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His favorite animal to carve is an eagle which takes about 24-26 hours. Every year, he carves an animal and places it under his Christmas tree. The most challenging animal he carves is a bear.

As for how he got into carving with a chainsaw, Weston said he was watching the show “Sawdogs.”

“I watched that TV show and I just couldn’t stand it, I had to do it,” Weston noted.

At the Heritage Days event, he had nine chainsaws with him. Not all of the chainsaws are for carving, though.

“I’m a logger,” Weston said, adding he usually has three for the carvings, one large and another small. “I use the smaller chains to slow down and get more detail.”

The smaller saws are faster, for a quick and easy job, Weston said. He often uses a grinder to polish up the cuts.

As far as trees used, Weston said cypress and cedar are the trees he typically uses, though he also goes with silver maple.

“Oak gets really hard, cracks open pretty bad,” Weston said.

Advice for those who purchase a carving, whether it’s big or small, is simple, according to Weston.

“Mostly it’s keep it out of the sun,” Weston noted. “You get little cracks and checks in every bit of it. They’ll all have cracks. There is nothing you can do about that.”

In addition to the carvings of animals, Weston said he gets requests for name plates.

“People want quick and easy,” he said. “I’m going to practice up on my bears to do one in 15 minutes.”

This version, Weston said, is just the bear’s head, arms and face.

“I need to get that detail down,” he said.

Prior to this interview, Weston finished a $25 a pumpkin for a customer.

“There are not that many guys that do this,” Weston said. “This is the only show I’ve done this year.

“I have other things I do to make a living. This is my hobby. I enjoy doing it. I don’t have to depend on it.”

This is first time for a county effort, said Donna Barks.

The Heritage Days event was previously held by the Barks family prior to 2017 as a way of getting outside and enjoying fall activities, according to Barks.

“A touch of history,” she said. “That’s why it’s dubbed as the heritage stuff.”

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