audio file (MP3; 26.7MB)
Hear James Weaver's fascinating 152-minute talk in Rohrbach Library's Voices & Choices Center on January 27, 2011.
Mr. Weaver is introduced by Dr. Robert Reynolds of Kutztown University's Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center.
Rohrbach librarian Mike Weber maintains an excellent website chronicling Pennsylvania German events, research sources, and miscellany. This is a must-see for anyone with an interest in the worlds of the PA Dutch.
Renowned for his marketing know-how as well as his agricultural savvy, Mennonite farmer James Weaver is a bicultural entrepreneur who's as comfortable doing business in the dialect as he is in English. The hundreds of varieties of chiles and heirloom tomatoes he and his family produce at Meadow View Farm on Bowers Road in Kutztown are prized by connoisseurs throughout the region.
His hand in launching the popular Bowers Chile Pepper Festival is described in a 2006 article from the Allentown Morning Call: "The real red-hot chile peppers."
A 2010 piece from the Reading Eagle, "Chile Pepper Food Festival heats up in Bowers," also furnishes information about the genesis of the event.
Mr. Weaver graciously agreed to speak at Rohrbach Library about Mennonite ways, accompanied by Dr. Robert Reynolds of Kutztown University's Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center.
Reading Eagle reporter Greta Cuyler was in attendance; below is a link to her story:
"KU audience introduced to Old Order Mennonite life"
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