2/5 Jen Y. 10 months ago on Google • 80 reviews
Visited
the
site
of
Weeksville
Heritage
Center
on
a
Saturday
in
2023,
the
first
day
of
the
Juneteenth
Food
Festival
that
was
taking
place
on
the
site.
Though
my
husband
and
I
knew
that
the
center
would
be
closed
for
tours
that
day,
We
were
looking
forward
to
familiarizing
ourselves
with
the
center's
location
and
the
houses
on
the
site,
with
the
intention
of
returning
for
a
tour
in
the
future.
We
arrived
just
after
noon,
as
the
Food
Festival
published
hours
were
"12-7."
However,
nothing
was
really
ready
at
that
time,
and
at
least
half
of
the
food
vendors
still
weren't
ready
to
sell
food
by
12:35pm.
Since
we
had
to
wait
for
the
food
vendors
to
open,
we
decided
to
check
out
the
'Welcome
Center.'
We
quickly
learned
that
the
name
is
a
misnomer,
as
the
center
is
not
very
welcoming.
There
were
no
signs
on
the
center
saying
it
was
closed,
so
we
walked
in
to
the
main
entrance.
I
didn't
walk
more
than
10
feet
into
the
door,
was
looking
at
the
information
about
the
center
on
a
shelf,
and
a
woman
came
running
up
to
me
to
ask
me
'if
she
could
help
me.'
I
mentioned
that
we
were
here
for
the
food
festival
and
would
like
information
for
a
future
tour.
Though
she
answered
my
questions
politely,
the
feeling
I
got
was
clearly
that
I
had
done
something
wrong,
and
was
not
welcome.
I
signaled
to
my
husband
and
we
quickly
left
the
building.
Again,
there
were
no
signs
saying
the
building
was
closed.
Since
the
food
vendors
were
mostly
still
not
ready
to
serve,
my
husband
and
I
walked
down
and
sat
on
the
edge
of
the
wooden
ramp
that
runs
down
into
the
yard.
There
were
other
people
sitting
there
too.
We
had
read
the
FAQ
mentioning
to
bring
lawn
chairs
to
sit
on
the
lawn,
but
we
weren't
planning
to
stay
for
too
long
so
we
planned
to
just
wait
there
while
the
food
vendors
opened.
Not
a
few
minutes
after
we
sat
down,
a
man
came
and
somewhat
rudely
told
us
all
to
get
up,
as
we
'weren't
allowed
to
sit
on
the
ramp.'
We
completely
understand
that
there
might
be
access
rules,
or
reasons
why
it
might
not
be
safe
to
have
people
on
the
ramp,
but
again,
there
was
no
sign
indicating
that
sitting
on
the
ramp
was
not
allowed,
nor
was
this
in
the
event
FAQ.
And
the
event
person
could
have
been
less
brusque
about
running
people
off
since
there
was
no
sign.
I'm
sure
they
must
have
had
to
do
this
all
day
long.
Since
we
now
had
no
place
to
sit,
and
the
food
vendors
weren't
yet
ready,
we
decided
to
wander
over
by
the
houses,
and
tried
to
walk
down
a
path
that
led
past
the
garden,
to
what
we
thought
might
be
another
area
where
vendors
were
set
up
(we
had
seen
this
from
Bergen
Street
while
approaching
the
venue).
The
same
man
who
ran
us
off
the
ramp
told
us
that
were
'weren't
allowed
to
walk
there."
This
we
found
very
strange,
as
later
when
we
again
looked
at
the
other
vendor
area
through
the
fence
on
Bergen
St,
it
seemed
that
path
was
the
only
way
to
go
there.
We
don't
know
how
people
were
supposed
to
get
back
to
that
other
vendor
area,
and
were
also
quite
disappointed
not
to
be
able
to
even
get
near
the
historic
houses
on
the
property
to
view
the
outsides.
In
summary
we
were
'pushed
off'
of
three
areas
of
the
center
within
about
15
minutes
of
arriving.
We
understand
this
was
a
special
event,
but
all
of
this
has
given
us
quite
a
negative
impression
of
the
center,
and
we
are
not
eager
to
return.
At
the
very
least,
the
center
missed
a
HUGE
opportunity
to
showcase
the
center
as
an
interesting,
fun,
and
welcoming
place
to
visit.
Additionally,
we
felt
that
the
event
could
have
used
improvement
in
some
basic
areas
of
execution
including
things
like
posting
opening
hours
that
actually
match
the
event
readiness.
Meaning,
don't
post
that
your
hours
are
12-7
when
the
event
isn't
fully
ready
to
go
until
at
least
1pm.
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