Market Day Brings Harvest Tradition To The Streets Of Newtown

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — Sunny skies and comfortable autumn temperatures combined to bring out the crowds for this year’s Market Day.

Organized by the Newtown Historic Association, Market Day revives a Newtown harvest season custom where long ago local farmers brought their crops to town to sell and enjoy a day of festivities and contests that culminated with a horse race down State Street.

While there were no horse races on Saturday, there was still plenty to see and do from a Colonial encampment to wagon rides by Hutch Hamilton and his team of Belgian horses.

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Members of the Newtown Historic Association selling plates and Christmas ornaments. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Frank Mayr of YellowHouse Workshop in Yardley demonstrates chair caning. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Hutch Hamilton and his team of Belgian horses offered wagon rides through town. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Members of the Hunterdon County Rug Artisans Guild demonstrated their craft. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Mary Talmie, a member of the Washington Crossing wool group, demonstrates wool spinning at Market Day. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Throughout the day, visitors browsed past more than 80 booths chock-full of handmade crafts and stopped to watch as craftsmen demonstrated Colonial-era trades as the event unfolded along Court Street, Centre Avenue and Mercer Street.

A group of people gathered around chair caner Frank Mayr of YellowHouse Workshop in Yardley as he weaved strips of wicker through a chair seat.

Across the street members of the Newtown Quilters Guild were selling raffle tickets for a chance to win one of its handmade treasures. Proceeds will benefit the guild’s many charities.

Nearby, a group from Washington Crossing was spinning yarns from wool from the park’s resident sheep at the Thompson-Neely House. The quality of the wool varies based on the breed of the sheep, volunteer Mary Talmie shared with Market Day visitors.

At the Court Inn, Charlie McAuliffe and his wife, Charie, of Langhorne were portraying Innkeepers Joseph and Margaret Thornton. The Thornton’s were married on Dec. 24, 1729, and had 12 children.

Inside the Court Inn costumed guides led tours through the building offering a glimpse into the past when Newtown was the Bucks County seat of government.

Portraying Court Inn owners Joseph and Margaret Thornton and their son, John, are Charlie and Charie McAuliffe of Langhorne and John Pinzka. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

The Countryside Gardeners offered fresh floral arrangements. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Scarecrow making at Patriots Park. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

First Crossing Volunteers brought their cannon to the event. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Members of the Newtown Rotary Club were giving away decorated ducks. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

In the lush backyard and gardens behind the Half Moon, members of the First Crossing Volunteers demonstrated open-hearth cooking, how Revolutionary soldiers dressed for battle, and the artillery they used in battle.

Out on Court Street, stationed in front of the Half-Moon Inn, members of the Newtown Historic Association shared stories from Newtown’s past and sold postcards, Newtown history books and other gift items to benefit the association.

Overlooking the intersection of Court Street and Centre Avenue were members of the Countryside Gardeners who meet at the Half-Moon Inn and who care for the backyard gardens, which are among the most beautifully kept in town. The members reported brisk sales of their freshly handmade floral arrangements and bundles of hydrangea branches grown locally by Lee Gittens of Newtown Township.

Proceeds from Market Day benefit the upkeep of the Court Inn (Half Moon Inn) and the Callahan Research Center.