Name change signals fresh start for Sonnenberg celebration

What’s in a name? For the people in the Sonnenberg Village in Southeastern Wayne County, everything.

For most of two decades, the village was the site of the Sonnenberg Homecoming. Starting this year, that will be the Sonnenberg Village Festival.

“Homecoming seems to exclude people, and that’s not the case with this, and it all seemed a little old-fashioned and not fun,” Max Gerber of the Kidron-Sonnenberg Heritage Center said. “Festivals are about fun.

“In the past the communities got together as groups to have a good time. This is what that represents. The people from the community can get together and laugh and enjoy some company and a nice day of activity.”

The freshly named Sonnenberg Village Festival is set for Saturday, Aug. 9 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. All buildings including the welcome center, artisan buildings and gift shop will be open throughout that time.

“The Sonnenberg Homecoming is the perfect excuse to visit the Sonnenberg Village, enter some history buildings, enjoy live music, learn something at an exhibit and try out some delicious food,” said Ohiofestivals.net, a website dedicated to providing information about the hundreds of festivals and activities taking place in the state throughout the year.

The day’s schedule will feature the following:

—A production of the play “Treasure Island” at 10:30 a.m. (also to be performed Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. and Aug. 10 at 2 p.m.) at the welcome center.

—Orrville Community Band at the welcome center at 1 p.m.

—Beard contest at the activity tent at 1:30 p.m.

—Fiddle contest at the barn at 2:30 p.m. Participants should register at 1:30 p.m.

—Cornhole tournament at the activity tent at 4 p.m.

—Honeytown concert at The Barn at 7 p.m.

Of that schedule, the fiddle contest will make its debut this year.

The Sonnenbergs settled in the area in 1819, according to the Ohio History Connection. They came from the Jura Mountains of Canton Bern in Switzerland, fleeing religious persecution due to their Anabaptist-Mennonite beliefs, including adult baptism and the separation of church and state.

Ulrich Lehman, Johannes Amstutz, and the families of Peter and Barbara Lehmen, David and Barbara Kirchhofer, and Isaac and Katharina Sommer brought up 320 acres roughly 2 miles northeast of Kidron. The families’ descendants commemorate this migration each year with a homecoming, which has developed into the annual festival.

Visitors get to visit the various buildings and sights on the land including a blacksmith shop and church, with authentic interiors and furnishings offering an idea of what life was like more than two centuries ago when the families first settled.

“It’s being housed in Kidron at the village, which is a collection of old buildings that were part of the community dating back to the 1800s,” Gerber said. “Some of these buildings were built in 1830, 1840 and that time period. They continue to have activities going on in them. Probably the most impressive to me is the blacksmith shop. The gentleman operating it is a genuine blacksmith.”

Gerber said the festival is for everyone, not just locals, and hopes people come from all points on the compass to take in the day’s activities.

The Sonnenberg Village is located at 13497 Hackett Road, just east of Kidron Road in Apple Creek. See the Kidron Historical Society’s Facebook page or visit www.Kidronhistoricalsociety.org or www.sonnenbergvillagehomecoming.com for more information.

The Kidron Community Historical Society is located in Kidron. Members collect, research, preserve and display available historical material including relics, documents and books connected with the history of the Kidron area. It maintains the Heritage Center in downtown Kidron and also Sonnenberg Village.