Pioneer Museum will host events for all ages for First Weekend, with a free program scheduled for Friday, June 6 and living history experiences with the cost of admission on Saturday, June 7.
Pioneer Museum and the Vereins Kirche Museum will be open both days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wieser program
The free public program is slated for Friday, June 6 at the Gillespie County Historical Society Sanctuary. The program, sponsored by Fredericksburg Morning Rotary Club and a Friend of the Gillespie County Historical Society, will include a presentation on the history of Fischer & Wieser from Mark Wieser.
A native of Fredericksburg, Wieser started Fischer & Wieser’s Das Peach Haus as a roadside fruit stand in 1969, selling fruit harvested from his parents’ orchard. His father planted the original family peach orchard in 1928, and his mother made the preserves that became the company’s first product.
Case Fischer and Mark Wieser formed a partnership in 1986 and created Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods.
A graduate of Texas A&M University, long-time teacher and historian, and former judge of Gillespie County, Wieser now spends most of his time writing and working on the farm — two things he loves to do best. He also serves as chairman of the board of Fischer & Wieser.
Doors open at 3 p.m., with the program following from 3:30-5 p.m. The program will also be live streamed by fbg.live, underwritten by a grant from the Hill Country Historical Foundation. It will be available for viewing on YouTube and on pioneermuseum.org.
Saturday
On Saturday, June 7, visitors and guests are invited to experience living history at Pioneer Museum. Guests can see demonstrations from spinners, handwerkers and blacksmiths, talk with Frontier Company Interpretive Living Historians and participate in a hands-on, family-friendly scavenger hunt. In addition, there will be an opportunity to make peach ice cream.
The Schandua House, located at 111 E. Austin St., and the Historic Gillespie County Jail, located at 117 W. San Antonio St., will have interpretive docents from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 7.
Visitors can tour the temporary exhibit in the museum store, which will have a focus on the peach industry in Gillespie County. Access to the exhibit is free and does not require admission.
During the weekend, the book of the month for June will be 10% off in the Museum Store. “The Peach Truck Cookbook” features 100 recipes for all things peach, in time for peach season in Fredericksburg.
