The Colerain Center for Education, Preservation and the Arts will host the Ukraine at Colerain festival from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Volunteers will demonstrate traditional Ukrainian music, dancing and crafts. Courtesy photo

For one day only, the Colerain Center for Education, Preservation and the Arts will be transformed into a slice of Eastern Europe during the Ukraine at Colerain festival, where volunteers will welcome the crowd with demonstrations of traditional Ukrainian music, dancing and crafts.

The festival, which will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 26, began as a collaborative brainstorming session between Colerain Board of Directors President Jerry Zolten, local musician T.J. Temchack and State College-based Ukrainian nonprofit fundraiser Svitlana Jones.

Temchack wrote the rock opera “Rumble and Scream” in 2023 to celebrate Ukrainian culture in his native Appalachia, a region he calls “Pennsylkrainia.”

“It’s based on a combination of personal experiences and the writings of poets and bards from Appalachia and Ukraine. It addresses these different issues that have existed basically forever across space and time,” Temchack explained in a 2023 article published by his alma mater, Penn State Altoona.

After the rock opera’s radio debut in late 2023, Zolten said that Jones was “overflowing with ideas” on how to use “Rumble and Scream” as a launching point for a larger event, eventually landing on the idea of a Ukrainian cultural festival held at Colerain headlined by Temchack’s production.

The all-ages festival will also feature a slate of musicians performing traditional Ukrainian folk music and a number of volunteers demonstrating native Ukrainian dances and crafts, according to Jones.

Attendees can expect hands-on demonstrations of Ukrainian embroidery, rag doll making, string weaving and intricate Easter egg painting, she said, along with a sample of fresh Ukrainian pierogies.

Proceeds from the event will go to support the center and Jones’ 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation Sister’s Sister, which raises money for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

The ongoing conflict, which began with Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine in February 2022, has steadily intensified, according to Jones, with a mounting number of drone attacks on civilian centers leaving parts of the country in ruin.

“(The war) is a terrible nightmare,” she said.

A little over three years since the invasion, western awareness of the conflict has waned, resulting in a diminished stream of critical aid at a time when it’s needed most, according to Jones.

“The world is not watching anymore,” she said. “We want to tell people ‘please don’t forget that Ukraine is struggling.'”

A local institution

The Colerain Center, located just under 20 minutes east of Tyrone in Spruce Creek, is a preserved 18th century mansion where the master of the associated Colerain Iron Forges lived, according to Zolten.

The burgeoning iron industry was one of the first economic engines of Central Pennsylvania, Zolten said, drawing entrepreneurial pioneers west to settle early industrial centers like Bedford, Huntingdon and what is now State College beginning in the late 17th century.

After a change in ownership just over two years ago, the Colerain Center has become a nonprofit focused on the arts, education and historic preservation, Zolten said.

This includes offering guided tours of the mansion and grounds, as well as hosting a number of community arts events throughout the year such as Ukraine at Colerain.

While the mansion itself will be closed during the festival, Zolten said that visitors are free to explore the grounds and return during normal operating hours to see inside.

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.

If you go

What: “Ukraine at Colerain,” an all-ages fundraiser festival celebrating Ukrainian culture

Where: 4072 Spruce Creek Road, Spruce Creek

When: Noon to 5 p.m., July 26

Cost: Free entrance; donations requested