Search Results
![["The Htte Swiss Restaurant was founded in Helvetia in the 1960s by Eleanor Mailloux and Delores Bagerly. Mailloux took sole ownership of the restaurant in 1976, and it is now owned by a collective of family members. The Htte is still open every day and functions as a community gathering place and ad hoc museum. The restaurant offers mostly Swiss-German fare, with menu items such as rosti, veal and pork bratwurst, parsley potatoes, sauerkraut, house made sausage, homemade bread, and sauerbraten (sour beef). The sampler plate includes veal and pork bratwurst, sausage, parsley potatoes, green beans, curry chicken, homemade bread, sauerkraut, pickled pineapple, Helvetia cheese, and peach cobbler.Visit the Httes facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/The-H%C3%BCtte-Restaurant-164869667005759Read more about the Htte in Emily Hilliards articles for the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/something-good-from-helvetia/NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnachtAnd The Bitter Southerner:https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAlso see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaCommunityFair082Photo91016/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaCommunityFair.082.Photo.9.10.16
- Title:
- Hutte sampler plate offered during the Helvetia Community Fair
- Date:
- 2016-09-10
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Cooking (Sausages), Restaurants--United States, Food habits, Cooking (Sauerkraut), Helvetia (W. Va.), Cooking, Swiss, foodways, Bread, Restaurateurs
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["The Helvetia Community Fair, located in the Swiss community of Helvetia in Randolph County, is one of the oldest agricultural fairs in West Virginia. Activities include a parade in Swiss costume, alphorn music, Swiss folk dancing and singing, fahnenschwingen (flag twirling), a crafts, food, and canning exhibition, field events, an archery shoot, and more.Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including the Community Fair: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd in the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaCommunityFair083Photo91016/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaCommunityFair.083.Photo.9.10.16
- Title:
- Old gift shop in Helvetia
- Date:
- 2016-09-10
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Helvetia (W. Va.), Swiss Americans
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["The Helvetia Community Fair, located in the Swiss community of Helvetia in Randolph County, is one of the oldest agricultural fairs in West Virginia. Activities include a parade in Swiss costume, alphorn music, Swiss folk dancing and singing, fahnenschwingen (flag twirling), a crafts, food, and canning exhibition, field events, an archery shoot, and more.Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including the Community Fair: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd in the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaCommunityFairVideo00191016/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaCommunityFair.Video.001.9.10.16
- Title:
- Alphorn music and fahnenschwingen (Swiss flag twirling) at the Helvetia Community Fair
- Date:
- 2016-09-10
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Swiss Americans, Helvetia (W. Va.), Alphorn
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["The Helvetia Community Fair, located in the Swiss community of Helvetia in Randolph County, is one of the oldest agricultural fairs in West Virginia. Activities include a parade in Swiss costume, alphorn music, Swiss folk dancing and singing, fahnenschwingen (flag twirling), a crafts, food, and canning exhibition, field events, an archery shoot, and more.Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including the Community Fair: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd in the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaCommunityFairVideo00291016/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaCommunityFair.Video.002.9.10.16
- Title:
- Helvetian children performing Swiss folk dance at the Helvetia Community Fair, 1 of 3
- Date:
- 2016-09-10
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Folk dancing, Swiss, Swiss Americans, Helvetia (W. Va.)
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["The Helvetia Community Fair, located in the Swiss community of Helvetia in Randolph County, is one of the oldest agricultural fairs in West Virginia. Activities include a parade in Swiss costume, alphorn music, Swiss folk dancing and singing, fahnenschwingen (flag twirling), a crafts, food, and canning exhibition, field events, an archery shoot, and more.Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including the Community Fair: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd in the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaCommunityFairVideo00391016/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaCommunityFair.Video.003.9.10.16
- Title:
- Helvetian children performing Swiss folk dance at the Helvetia Community Fair, 1 of 3
- Date:
- 2016-09-10
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Folk dancing, Swiss, Swiss Americans, Helvetia (W. Va.)
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["The Helvetia Community Fair, located in the Swiss community of Helvetia in Randolph County, is one of the oldest agricultural fairs in West Virginia. Activities include a parade in Swiss costume, alphorn music, Swiss folk dancing and singing, fahnenschwingen (flag twirling), a crafts, food, and canning exhibition, field events, an archery shoot, and more.Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including the Community Fair: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd in the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaCommunityFairVideo00491016/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaCommunityFair.Video.004.9.10.16
- Title:
- Helvetian children performing Swiss folk dance at the Helvetia Community Fair, 3 of 3
- Date:
- 2016-09-10
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Swiss Americans, Folk dancing, Swiss, Helvetia (W. Va.)
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaFasnachtPhoto0012616/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.001.2.6.16
- Title:
- Helvetia Community Hall decorated for Fasnacht, 1 of 2
- Date:
- 2016-02-16
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Helvetia (W. Va.), Carnival, Festivals, Swiss Americans
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaFasnachtPhoto0022616/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.002.2.6.16
- Title:
- Helvetia Community Hall decorated for Fasnacht, 2 of 2
- Date:
- 2016-02-06
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Carnival, Winter festivals, Swiss Americans, Helvetia (W. Va.), Festivals
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaFasnachtPhoto0032616/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.003.2.6.16
- Title:
- Effigy of Old Man Winter hangs from the rafters in the Helvetia Community Hall
- Date:
- 2016-02-06
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Carnival, Winter festivals, Helvetia (W. Va.), Festivals
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.), Randolph County (W. Va.)
![["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaFasnachtPhoto0042616/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.004.2.6.16
- Title:
- The effigy of Old Man Winter is created by Helvetia community member Betty Biggs
- Date:
- 2016-02-06
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Helvetia (W. Va.), Winter festivals, Carnival, Festivals
- Location:
- Randolph County (W. Va.), Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaFasnachtPhoto0052616/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.005.2.6.16
- Title:
- Prizes for the Fasnacht children's mask competition hanging on the stage of the Helvetia Community Hall
- Date:
- 2016-02-06
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Helvetia (W. Va.), Carnival, Winter festivals
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.), Randolph County (W. Va.)
![["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224HelvetiaFasnachtPhoto0062616/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.006.2.6.16
- Title:
- Historical photos and art hanging on the wall of the Helvetia Community Hall, 1 of 2
- Date:
- 2016-02-06
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Dance halls, Winter festivals, Helvetia (W. Va.), Square dance music--United States
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.), Randolph County (W. Va.)
