LUCAS — Pat Drouhard gripped the red cast iron spokes and pulled the wheel tight. His all cast iron, antique cider mill pressed down on thick chunks of apple, crushed just moments before.
White foam and caramel-colored juices trickled out from the bottom of the barrel into a bucket below. Children rushed forward with tiny paper cups and filled them at the spout with fresh apple cider.
Drouhard believes the cider press — which he restored himself — was probably manufactured in the 1890s. Such presses were common in the country, where people made cider, hard cider and vinegar as a way of preserving their crop.
Drouhard was one of several exhibitors at Malabar Farm’s 47th Ohio Heritage Days on Saturday. The annual event offers visitors a glimpse into early American life with traditional crafts, re-enactments and demonstrations.
While Civil War demonstrators shot off cannons at the foot of the Big House, Lee Cox sat on a wooden stool and prepared his dinner.
It was only 11 a.m., smoking a pork loin over an open fire takes time.
The meat hung on a pole above a simple fire pit Cox dug into the grassy hillside earlier that morning. A cast iron skillet sat on the ground next to him, bits of sausage and potatoes cooling for breakfast.
It was Cox’s third year at Ohio Heritage Days. The Galion resident started camping two days prior to the event.
His simple set-up reflected what life might have been like for civilian pioneer or French fur trader in the late 18th century.
Cox said his ex got him into re-enacting. The relationship didn’t last, but the hobby did.
“I enjoyed it, made a lot of friends. I like camping. I like the outdoors,” he said.
Saturday’s event also featured vendors like Brenda Fowler.
When the stream of customers slowed, Fowler sat in front of her vendor’s tent with a rug pattern, using a wooden hook to pull strips of black wool through a piece of linen.
Fowler said she enjoys the traditional art form of wool rug hooking because it’s relaxing.
“I like figuring out what colors to use where,” she said. “After you’re done, you take a damp towel and you put a hot iron to it and it locks it all in place. After it’s locked in place, you bind the edges.”
Jim Singry had his collection of gas engines on display, all of which are at least 100 years old. Singry said the engines were a staple of farm life in the early 20th century.
“That one there was a saw rig, so it pretty much cut firewood and that’s a 7-horsepower,” he said, raising his voice to carry over the metallic clanking of a 1916 Economy Engine.
Before the invention of the electric motor, farmers used gas engines to pump water and run equipment like binders, cream separators, milking machines and even washing machines.
“We’ve got some Maytag engines and they’re portably 3/4-, 1-horsepower,” he said. “The people that lived out in the rural country got a gas engine to run their washing machine because the electric hadn’t been moved out there yet.”
The 47th annual Ohio Heritage Days Festival continues on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
