Let’s Go to the Hop

 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

 

Around the middle of the 19th century, hops was one of the most important agricultural crops in upstate NY and people from urban areas would come to Schoharie County on vacation for the sole purpose of helping with the hop harvest.  No doubt, part of the draw was the fun and frolicking in the evenings that followed a hard day’s labor.  (Read more about hops and how local beers are being developed by clicking here.)

In 1890, the following item appeared in a local paper:

“The hop house dance with orchestra on flour barrels, will soon be rife.  Without it hoppicking would be a failure to a goodly percent of pickers.  It’s lots of fun for those that like it, and many a girl in a calico dress, to the music of the non-aristocratic mouth organ, without the enchanting influences of lofty surroundings, goes through the various dances with a grace that would do credit to the bespangled and diamond-rigged belles of high society.”

A disastrous trifecta of soil depletion, blue mold and the passage of the 18th amendment led to the rapid decline of the hops harvest in Sharon Springs… but not for the need to party.

As part of our annual Harvest Festival, we’re hosting a Harvest Hop–destined to become a legend.

This year’s Hop will be held in the town fire hall on Friday, Sept 14

Join us, a fantastic live band and a dance caller that will get everyone burning up the dance floor!

Each female ticket holder will get their own dance card for the evening, so put on your best calico dress and muck boots and get ready. And every ticket holder gets a drink ticket to sample the best of Ommegang’s new brews!

Click here for ticket information (space is limited to 150 people)