Date/Time
11 Oct 2025
8:30 am - 3:30 pm
Location
Illinois Amish Heritage Center, 284 E. Illinois 133, Arthur, IL
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This event is being offered for those who have never had a meal in an Amish home in Arthur, Illinois. Join IFI’s outing to the heart of the Amish area in nearby Arthur, Illinois, on October 11th, and go back in time 150 years! Sign-up must be made by Wednesday evening, October 8th. Sign up below only if you definitely will attend because IFI must still pay for your museum entry and meal if you don’t come. This event will likely fill up fast.
We will visit the Illinois Amish Heritage Museum’s Harvest to Home Festival, tour the Amish farm country, and have lunch in an Amish family’s home. The Amish are great “country-style” cooks! The lunch they typically serve us includes fried chicken, mashed potatoes, meatless gravy, several vegetables, salad, homemade bread, apple butter, pie, and beverages. There will be plenty of vegetarian options. If you are using IFI’s transportation, the total cost for this event is $35 for adults and $25 for children. Payment is cash only on the morning of the event (no credit card or digital payments). A $5 per person cost adjustment will be made if driving your own car. You will be contacted with the details about transportation and departure the evening before the event. Bring your camera and some extra money for the Amish shops. Please do not take photos of the Amish people’s faces as that is not allowed in their culture.
The Amish have a worldview that resists being dependent upon modern culture and technology in order to preserve a simple, family-centered way of life that is closely tied to the land they farm. They use horses and buggies instead of cars to travel the roads, make their own clothing, raise some of their own food, and have their own schools. The Amish build their own homes and generate their own electricity. They do not have televisions, radios or computers, and they resist having phones inside of their homes, so as to not disturb their family life. Their simple way of life has become quite a tourist attraction because it takes one back in time and presents a culture that is significantly disengaged from our modern technologically driven world!
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