Cheap Trips: Northampton Days, Hex Barn

Want to get out of town and go for a trip, but looking to save money?

Try one of these trips you can enjoy on just one tank of gas: Northampton Days in Northampton and the Hex Sign Barn Tour in Kutztown.

Northampton Days

Address: Richboro Middle School, 98 Upper Holland Road, Richboro
Time: Sept. 9, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Admission: Free

About: Festivities include our annual car show, family games, a talent show as well as displays from local businesses. This a family friendly event provided at little or no cost to attendees. More information is available on Facebook @NorthamptonDays or at NorthamptonDays.org

Links:

• Web site

Hex Sign Barn Tour

Address: Begins at Kutztown exit of Route 222, Berks County
Admission: Free
Hours: Anytime

Summary: Take a ride deep through the greater Reading area's farm country and discover hex signs, a uniquely American art form and best known symbol of the Pennsylvania Dutch. The Greater Reading Convention and Visitors Bureau offers a free Hex Tour brochure that you can download online. The 28-mile self-guided tour starts at the Kutztown exit of Route 222. Call the bureau at 800-443-6610 or 610-375-4085 for more information. According to Wikipedia, "Barn paintings, usually in the form of "stars in circles," grew out of the fraktur and folk art traditions about 1850 when barns first started to be painted in the area. By the 1940s commercialized hex signs, aimed at the tourist market, became popular and these often include stars,compass roses, stylized birds known as distelfinks, hearts, tulips, or a tree of life. Two schools of thought exist on the meaning of hex signs. One school ascribes a talismanic nature to the signs, the other sees them as purely decorative, or 'Chust for nice' in the local dialect."