Harvest Festival and Autumn Market

About this event

The Hessenpark open-air museum in Neu-Anspach fills a weekend around German Unity Day with the sounds, smells, and skills of an old-fashioned Hessian harvest. At the heart of the festival, a historic traction engine belts up to a wooden threshing drum, shaking the grain from sheaves of wheat while volunteers with flails show how it was done by hand. Nearby, children can turn a small hand press to make their own apple juice, try pumpkin or turnip carving, and – if the ground permits – dig for potatoes. Inside one of the museum's relocated churches, a harvest thanksgiving service brings a quieter moment to the day. Wandering the 65-hectare grounds, you'll see demonstrations of straw rope-making on a vintage machine and can watch grain being winnowed to separate chaff from kernels. The on-site kitchen crew steams heaps of Hessenpark potatoes and serves them with quark, green sauce, or herring salad; stalls around the site sell regional cheeses, mushroom specialities, honey, pumpkin treats, and fruit brandies. Running parallel, the Autumn Market sets up along the museum pathways from 9 am to 6 pm. Around 100 historic half-timbered buildings form the backdrop for stalls selling knitted woollens, leather goods, ceramics, handcrafted jewellery, home and garden decorations, and more. Because the whole museum stays open, it's easy to mix a browse through the craft stalls with a look inside the permanently inhabited historic houses, mills, and workshops. Families with primary-school-age children will find plenty to do; the whole day can easily fill five or six hours if you tour the museum village as well. The site is partly unpaved, so sturdy shoes help.