Hay Creek Festival
September 11–13, 2026 · Historic Joanna Furnace, Geigertown · Ticketed
About the event
The Hay Creek Festival fills Historic Joanna Furnace with three days of living history on a 26-acre site in southern Berks County. Joanna Furnace was an ironmaking community, and during the festival the grounds work much the way they once did, with a blacksmith shaping iron in the smithy, a moulder in the casting house explaining the furnace's ten-plate stoves, and woodworkers cutting timber on a pit saw.
Traditional craftspeople and tradesmen demonstrate throughout the weekend, among them a weaver, seamstress, potter, tinsmith, gunsmith, broom maker, soap maker, and open-fire cooks. Guided touring of the iron plantation explains how the furnace operated, and reenactors from the 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry set up camp to share a soldier's life, joined by civilian interpreters describing the home front. Antique machinery, children's activities, a craft market, and festival food round out the grounds, with cider pressed daily in the Joanna Furnace cider mill.
Saturday evening brings a swing dance with The M&J Big Band, open to anyone who wants to try it whether or not they have danced before. The weekend is hosted by the Hay Creek Valley Historical Association, the volunteer group that has cared for the site since acquiring it from Bethlehem Steel.
