In less than a month, part of the Ohio University Southern campus will seem as if it were in a bit of a time warp.

There will be open-air cooking, crafters selling their wares, and even a Native American village, compliments of Boy Scout Troop 106.

The 17th annual Festival of the Hills will be Saturday and Sunday, Sept.

13-14. The festival committee is meeting this evening to make last minute preparation for the two-day event.

"We start getting excited in January, and it builds up until the day of the festival," Festival of the Hills Committee President Dott Mayne said.

The festival seeks to preserve and showcase the traditions of the region, and educate young people on how their ancestors lived and worked before the advent of computers, cars, and microwave ovens.

"We will have apple butter making, and and beans and cornbread cooked outside," Mayne said. "We try to do things the way they did them back then."

Saturday, children can ride ponies and visit with Smokey the Bear at the Wayne National Forest exhibit. There will also be puppet shows and storytelling.

King's Daughters Medical Center will offer blood sugar, blood oxygen and cholesterol screenings on Saturday. KDMC will also bring Stuffee, an interactive teaching aid for children.

On Sunday, there will be a church service at 11 a.m.

Dr. Robert Culp, who is a science professor at OUS will have a snake exhibit at the university's nature center.

Both days, there will be live entertainment, including The 1937 Flood Group, The Joe Freeman Band, and the I-town Soldiers from Ironton High School.

This year, the Lawrence County Bicentennial Bell will be on display at the festival.

The Festival of the Hills will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and

11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The meeting this evening is at 7:30 p.m. on the OUS campus.