Old Sturbridge Village makes plans for Labor Day weekend festivities

Date: 8/22/2011

STURBRIDGE — Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) is adding a spectacular 30-minute fireworks display on Sept. 3 to enhance its annual Labor Day Weekend “Family Fun Days” celebrations.

The fireworks show will take place at dusk over the village’s farm fields, preceded by music by the Heritage String Band and family-friendly entertainment on the Village Common beginning at 6 p.m. After the museum’s daytime activities end at 5 p.m., OSV will close and reopen at 6 p.m. for the separate evening fireworks program.

Sandwiches, snacks beer, wine and soft drinks will be on sale throughout the evening, or guests can bring their own picnics. Tickets for the fireworks show are separate from daytime museum admission and are on sale now at discounted prices. Through Aug. 31, tickets are $10 for OSV members and $12 for the general public (children younger than 3 are free). Beginning Sept. 1, tickets are $15 per person. Parking is free. Rain date for the fireworks event is Sept. 4.

Throughout Labor Day weekend, museum visitors can enjoy 1830s-style “base ball,” French & English (tug-of-war), puppet shows, songs, stories, toy hot air balloon flights and musket demonstrations. They can ride the village stagecoach, watch the printer, potter, blacksmith, and farmers at work, and meet OSV’s heritage breed animals, including sheep, oxen, cows, pigs and chickens. Visitors can also learn a period dance, make a 19th-century amusement (a spiral snake), and try their hand at marbling paper.

On Sept. 4, favorite PBS children’s television characters Curious George and Ruff Ruffman will appear throughout the day, and OSV will offer two-for-one adult admission and two free children’s admissions to all members of public television stations WGBH-Boston and WGBY-Springfield. The day’s events are open to the general public with museum admission.

“Curious George,” the award-winning WGBH-produced television series, is designed to inspire kids to explore science, math, and engineering in the world around them in a fun and entertaining way. Based on the best-selling “Curious George” books by Margret and H.A. Rey, the daily series expands George’s world to include a host of colorful characters and original locales, while maintaining the charm of the beloved books.

Part game show, part reality TV, and part spoof, “Fetch!” features real kids, real challenges, real science, and an unreal animated host — a dog named Ruff Ruffman. The WGBH-produced series teaches 6- to 10-year-olds about science in a fresh and unique way, as the cast takes on wild and wacky challenges inspired by a variety of themes surrounding scientific principles.

For more information about these characters and WGBH and WGBY Kids Club offerings, visit www.wgbh.org or www.wgby.org.

For more information about OSV, call 800-SEE-1830 or visit www.osv.org.