To do full justice to this story, let’s step back to the evening before the festival, when the celebrations actually began. Friday night, the festival commenced with ‘Ceilidh’, a Gaelic term meaning “a social gathering with traditional music, dancing, and storytelling” at 7pm. Johnathan Shegog played the bagpipes to welcome visitors to downtown Foxburg for the event held in the grassy nook between Foxburg Free Library and Foxburg Wine Cellars. Throughout Ceilidh, Carl Peterson and Robert Murdoch sang folk songs joined by Melinda Crawford on the fiddle and her husband Dan Crawford accompanying on piano. It was a joyous open air concert interlaced with the sounds of the bagpipes up and down the valley.

Saturday’s events started with the opening ceremony by MacDonald Pipe Band from Pittsburgh and was followed by various events including athletic performances wherein athletes displayed their strength and skills with the Caber Toss and Stone Put, sheepdog herding demonstrations by Tom Conn & Pam Gardner, and a variety of live music by the MacDonald Pipe Band and other performers. There were many craft vendors selling their wares ranging from pottery to kilts to hand pulled wool. Foods of the Highland included traditional Scottish delights such as meat pies, sausages, homemade cookies or folks could even have a slice of pizza by Foxburg Pizza. Other businesses in Foxburg also joined in the festivities with wine from Foxburg Wine Cellars, and Chocolates by Divani Chocolate Boutique to give the visitors a taste of the town. Inside the Events Center, kids enjoyed stories and songs by John Mickle and also had an opportunity to learn some Gaelic from Harry Webb. Popcorn, chocolate and ice cream were some of the tasty treats readily available for snacking… a kid’s dream come true! Visitors awaited horse carriage rides given by the Hovis family of Emlenton and Segway Tours promoted a new kind of “leisure sport” with a team of Segways, giving demonstrations and trials. Other attractions included various Scottish clan organizations who lined their tent along the roadway near the Galloway and Highland cattle. There, they shared their history and offered genealogy study and memberships.
The festival was interluded with announcements from the management, one of which was for the band to play the surprise ‘Happy Birthday’ tune for Dr Arthur Steffee, the owner of Riverstone Farm, who hosted the festival on his premises. Incidentally, during the closing ceremony, Dr. Steffee announced that he discovered at the festival that he is about a quarter Scottish.

A special “Moran taing!” goes out to all of the volunteers for ARCA in making this wonderful event such a success, after all it was a great day for Scotland and Foxburg!

[flickr-gallery mode="photoset" photoset="72157621942617291"]
[flickr-gallery mode="photoset" photoset="72157621942706621"]

Participants from Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, and Venango counties enjoyed all the sights, sounds, and flavors of our river valley town whilst meeting one another for a chance to exchange ideas and swap business cards.

The wonderful variety of eatables consisted of a salad bar of fresh fruits, vegetables, and cheeses provided by The Allegheny Grille and pizza pies of all kinds by Foxburg Pizza, as well as a tantalizing selection of  fruity and dessert wine samples by Foxburg Wine Cellars and decadent Belgian chocolate by Divani Chocolate Boutique. Also featured was Segway demonstrations in which people got to try out the segway motorized vehicle.

The event was organized and hosted by The Foxburg Inn, who featured prize giveaways from the area’s businesses toward the close of the event. Prizes included a Girlfriends Getaway package from The Foxburg Inn, a canoe trip from Parker’s Landing, gift cards from the Allegheny Grille, gift baskets from Divani Chocolate Boutique, Foxburg Wine Cellars, Foxburg Pizza & Country Store and the newly opened Paul & Sally McKissick Bank building, and many other terrific prizes.

What a splendid evening overall! Congratulations Foxburg on a sucessful event!
[flickr-gallery mode="photoset" photoset="72157622031674076"]

The very first big event in Foxburg was, it’s making of course! The year was  1785 when Samuel Mickle Fox of Philadelphia decided to purchase some land among the great Allegheny Clarion Valley. However, it was his son, Joseph  Mickle Fox, who built  his summer home, a.k.a: The Fox Mansion, in 1820. Legend has it that Joseph consulted a local “Indian” (i.e Native American) to walk with him over the land in order to find the most suitable place to build! Joseph and his family invested eight years building their home  entirely of materials obtained from  their land.   The mansion was completed in 1828 and carriage houses, stables, an ice house, a greenhouse, barns, a log cabin for the Fox children to play, and a complete arboretum where added by and by.  Interestingly, the Fox’s built the first arboretum  in the Commonwealth and collected specimens from each indigenous tree to the area to give it sustenance.  They too brought one of the country’s original golf courses into play, which is not only still operational, but never took a break! Recognized as philanthropists, the Fox family took great interest in community at large and  also constructed the Episcopal Church and the Foxburg Free Library.

For a great length of time, the railroads were the main event and Foxburg was booming! Some 30,000 residents once occupied the little houses speckled over the hillside. There was a train station in the heart of town and even a beautiful inn where travelers and locals could eat and stay the night. (Actually, there were two different inns built in the same place at different times; both of which burned down! ) In the 20′s  a unique double decker railroad bridge was constucted which was the signature feature of the town for many years. (It replaced two of the old wooden bridges that also burned down in earlier years.) It’s distinctive feature was the allowance for trains to pass over the top while cars drove over the single lane on the bottom! Pretty nifty, but now it can only bee seen on memorabilia, as it was demolished in 2008 and replaced with a modern two lane bridge.

Which brings us into the present. Foxburg had taken a little siesta from the industrial hustle and bustle and actually seemed reluctant to wake up until sometime in the nineties when a prodegee to Joseph Fox’s community interests rekindled the smoldering embers beneath the bed of Foxburg and lit it’s butt back on fire! Now there are events here every day beckoning those of many interests. A first class restaurant, a jazzy winery, a laid back riverfront hotel, a swank cafe & chocolate boutique, a lively pizzaria, a quaint coutry store, an exciting outdoors outfit, a curious gift shoppe, a mighty wurlizter in a musical theater, the river, the trails, the peace and quiet! Can you even imagine? Each year something is in the works and “change” is the word whispering throughout the valley. Newcomers are delighted and locals are excited as Foxburg reclaims it’s former glory in a new culturally driven light.

So… what was the question? Why Foxburg? Don’t ask me! Whether Foxburg can be your richness or your riches, all I have left to say is, figure it out for yourself! I’ve found my richness in “food of the gods”!