Arthurdale, West Virginia, is holding its annual New Deal Festival on Saturday, July 14th.  What a lovely idea!  The festival features artisan demonstrations, craft market, children’s activities, the New Deal Homestead Museum, tours of the Historic District, a visit from Eleanor Roosevelt (!), and more.

The New Deal Festival is held annually on the second Saturday in July to celebrate the history of the nation’s first New Deal Subsistence Homestead Community, Arthurdale.  Arthurdale was founded in 1933 to provide jobs, education, and modern housing for unemployed miners living in destitute coal camps in West Virginia. It also served as a laboratory for new educational, industrial, and farming techniques. The event is sponsored by Arthurdale Heritage, Inc, formed in 1985 and dedicated to restoring and preserving historic Arthurdale.

For more information, go to the festival website.