Cobblestone Museum will host Historic Trades Fair on Saturday, Patriotic Service on Sunday
File photos by Tom Rivers: Bill Ott of Lockport ran the blacksmith shop during the Historic Trade Fair lastAugust at the Cobblestone Museum. Ott is a member of the New York State Designer Blacksmith Group.
CHILDS – The Cobblestone Museum will be hosting two events this weekend at the museum, a National Historic Landmark at 14389 Ridge Rd.
The Historic Trades Fair will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and features many heritage artists plying their 19th century trades.
There will be blacksmithing, printing, spinning, butter churning, tatting, basket weaving, plein air painting, woodworking, Civil War re-enactors, fiddlers and an antique clock repair and maintenance expert.
The Cobblestone Society then on Sunday will welcome the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church and the Gaines Congregational United Church of Christ for the annual patriotic service, which starts at 11 a.m. at the Cobblestone Church. The church was built in 1834 and is the oldest cobblestone church in North America.
There were several American flags out last July for the Patriotic Service at the Cobblestone Church.
Soloists Maarit Vaga and Matilda Erakare will be singing and leading several patriotic songs. Born in Tampere, Finland, Vaga studied at the Juilliard School of Music under the tutelage of Maestro Vincent La Selva, director of the New York Grand Opera at Carnegie Hall. Vaga has appeared in several operas, including Madame Butterfly, Sister Angelica, La Boheme, and Rigoletto. Vaga’s performances and concerts earned her the 2002-2003 Finlandia Foundation’s Performer of the Year award.
Her daughter Matilda Erakare was born in Everett, WA and is the youngest in a family of musicians. She started piano lessons at 4 and soon added cello lessons, first with Jonathan Jaeger and then at the Eastman Community School of Music with Diego Garcia. In addition to music lessons, Matilda honed her skills as a dancer-singer-actor or “triple threat” in Broadway parlance, and has appeared in numerous Albion High School musicals. When not playing a leading role on stage, she participated in the pit orchestra and was a member of the Albion Purple Eagle’s Marching Band Drum Corps, playing the quads.
She frequently performs with her guitarist father, Jan-Mikael Erakare, at various events around western NY. Matilda will be finishing Genesee Community College this fall and is planning on continuing her studies in photography.
This free service is open to the public and will include patriotic readings which will be both historic and uplifting, as promised by Lay Leader Darrell Dyke of the Pullman Memorial Church. A free-will offering will be collected to benefit the Cobblestone Society. Parking is located behind the church.
