Blueberry Festival Returns for 26th Year

It’s a weekend full of activities, live music, and food sure to please everyone in the family when the 26th Annual Blueberry Festival returns to Historic Bethlehem on Saturday, July 16 and Sunday, July 17 at Burnside Plantation.

Admission to the event is $8 for adults ($10 for both days), $7 for seniors ($9 for both days) and $4 for youths age 6 through 16 ($5 for both days). Active military personnel receive $3 off admission and Historic Bethlehem Partnership members receive $1 off. 

The festival is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both days. Burnside Plantation is located at 1461 Schoenersville Road.

The weekend is full of live entertainment. Folk artist Ed McDade will play two shows on Saturday, one for children at 4 p.m. and another geared toward adults at 6 p.m.

O’Grady Quinlan Academy of Irish Dance will also perform on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Phydeaux’s Flying Flea Circus and Wahoo Medicine Show will entertain crowds on both days from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

A new attraction this year will be Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs; adults and children may get in the pens and interact with the pigs, said LoriAnn Wukitsch, managing director of Historic Bethlehem Partnership.

Children will have the opportunity to dress up in colonial clothes and play old-fashioned games such as graces, ball & cup and Jacob’s ladder. They will also be able to make various crafts such as tissue paper corncobs, bluebird houses, and beaded wampums.

Visitors will enjoy a variety of blueberry themed treats. Expect to see plenty of blueberry pie, blueberry strudel, blueberry crumb cake and more. 

Purists may munch on fresh blueberries, which will also be provided.

Food vendors such as Heaven on a Bun, Island Expressions, Dolores and Buddy's BBQ, Apple Frankie's, Holy Infancy Church, Hillbilly Kettlekorn, and Little Jimmy's Italian Ice will be set up as well.

A Blueberry pie eating contest will take place at 2:15 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

Crafters and demonstrators will be set up with their unique gifts and keepsakes.

Guides dressed in period clothing will be available for tours of the plantation including the house, barns, garden and kitchen. Bethlehem Police’s Mounted Unit will also be interacting with guests thoughout the event.

The blueberry festival started 26 years ago as “an ice cream and pie social gathering and has grown to a two-day family fun-filled event,” Wukitsch said.

The plantation known as the “Farm in the City” was an integral part of the Moravian farming system as well as the homestead of James Burnside, a Moravian missionary and county representative.

Historic Bethlehem Partnership is a not-for-profit institution that brings to life three centuries of American history. Historic Bethlehem tells the story of a small town of great influence, home to some of our nation’s earliest settlers, to America’s first municipal water pumping system, and to one of the world’s greatest industrial companies. 

For more information please go to the Historic Bethlehem website.