The Alternative Press

STILLWATER TOWNSHIP, NJ – Fire trucks, a teepee, two horses, the “Value This” guys, and a couple of professional hula hoopers shared the grounds of Stillwater Township School Saturday, Sept. 29.

The Historical Society of Stillwater Township presented its 7^th Annual Fall Festival, in partnership with the Stillwater Recreation Committee.

After a morning parade, various groups set up around the parking lot.

At the front gate was Jess Coulson, offering “pony” rides, actually on two horses, to benefit the township’s rescue squad. Horses "Sorry" and "Pebbles" were available for children to ride.

The squad was also selling the 50/50 tickets they have been peddling for three months.

“This is the first time we’ve done a 50/50,” Captain Michele Hess said.

She explained the purchase of two power lifts for the squad’s ambulances will come to about $60,000 and the lifts will be delivered soon.

“We need to keep up with the latest equipment,” she said.

The squad is also partnering with Modell’s in Newton for a week of discounts during which 5 percent of the purchase price of items bought with special coupons will be donated to the squad. The discount week starts “Black Friday,” and squad members have coupons.

Deborah Drumm, running the event for the society, said she hopes to see between $6,000 and $8,000 from the event.

The society asks only for donations from the vendors, and holds an auction and hay and carriage rides as well as selling food.

After lunch at the Historical Society Grill, visitors could enjoy baked goods being sold by the Presbyterian Church, or by Fran Ouder to raise money for medical costs for her nephew, Peter Hendership Jr., who is back in high school after battling cancer.

Cub Scout Pack 83 was signing up new members, and Boy Scout Troop 83 was selling candy bars.

On the baseball field, township resident Kelley Moonwater-Weidmann set up a teepee, and items from her heritage of the Lakota, Cherokee, and Montagnais tribes. She and her son, Christian, 6, were wearing authentic clothing she made. She also made the teepee, having learned from Morningstar of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.

At the festival was her smaller teepee, for which she cut saplings.

“It’s more portable,” she said.

It was carpeted with deer hides.

“I cured and salted the hides,” she said. “I left the hair on because they are more comfortable that way.”

Christian and friends, including his rat terrier, Sprinkles, were enjoying the deer hides.

“I teach native culture,” Moonwater-Weidmann said. “I travel around the country, mostly in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.”

She also teaches at Waterloo Village.

Representing a very different culture were Dana Cali of Fredon, and Alysa Ochoa of Wantage, who were demonstrating their hula hoop skills, inviting kids of all ages to try out the hoops and selling hoops and other items.

Ochoa, who works at the Staples in Newton, decorates battery-operated clocks, many with Grateful Dead themes, and other retro designs. She also makes jewelry and incense and other items under the brands “Transformation Creations” and Creations of the Dead.” 

“I do custom clocks for bands,” she said, noting she is a follower of jam bands. “And the Dead are the grandfathers of the jam scene.”

She admitted some disappointment for having been born too late for the heyday of the Dead.

There were familiar faces at the festival.

Lydia Chiappini of Heaven’s Gate Llama Farm in Blairstown was spinning her llama fiber. An art teacher at Warren County Community College, Raritan Valley Community College and Northampton Community College, Chiappini has started incorporating llama fiber into some of her oil paintings and is showing these paintings at area galleries.

“Some are in the form of collage, some appear woven, some are sculptural,” she explained. 

Brian Kathenes and Leon Castner set up their Trash and Treasures appraisals at the festival, courtesy of Drumm who won an assessment party from WNTI-FM radio.

Other vendors included Toni Baczek who sells custom party favors and cards, D&L Creative Design which features Candles by Lil, personalized embroidery and decorative painting, Sheree Vogt, watercolor artist, and some commercial vendors and the Stillwater PTA.