An Early American Event

Because scutching was long and laborious, settlers would gather together to do it and created the first flax-scutching festivals. Today, the Stahlstown festival is the oldest active scutching festival in the nation. In addition to demonstrating the process, the festival features antique farm machinery, arts and crafts sales, live traditional music and home-style cooking that includes buckwheat cakes and sausage. Another annual tradition is a mock American Indian raid that commemorates the early years of European settlement within the Ligonier Valley.