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Posted: 15 Dec 2025

Taken: 14 Dec 2025

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A Hearty Party

A Hearty Party
A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of guess what's going on (you know but viewers have to guess).

Photographer Charles H. Venus (1872-1959), of New Berlin, Union County, Pennsylvania, took this picture of twelve men and eight women at a get-together. The photo likely dates to the early twentieth century, and many of the participants are pretending to eat something that they're holding up to their mouths. I think I know what it is. Can you guess what they're eating?

For clues, see cropped versions of the left-hand side and the right-hand side of the photo and the handwritten message that's on the back of the photo.

A Hearty Party (Cropped Left)
A Hearty Party (Cropped Right)
A Hearty Party (Verso)

Justfolk, William Sutherland, Fred Fouarge have particularly liked this photo

6 comments - The latest ones
 Deborah Lundbech
Deborah Lundbech club
OK, honestly Alan, I can’t make head or tail of it - or the writing on the back!
Do tell!
And by the way - what on earth is that framed photograph on the wall of a ladder going up to a cross all about?!!
9 months ago.
Alan Mays club has replied to Deborah Lundbech club
Hi Deborah, I think that the comment on the back of the photo about "Oh! my taffy is gone" is the key (see my transcription of the writing). I think that this is a hearty taffy pulling party, and the men and women in this photo are pretending to eat pieces of the taffy they just made. Compare this photo with another Taffy Pulling Party.

Taffy Pulling Party
9 months ago.
Alan Mays club has added
The framed photo or print of the ladder and cross is a puzzle. I was surprised to discover that there's a whole iconography showing Jesus using a ladder to climb up onto the cross (see A Macedonian Mystery, for instance), but I couldn't locate any references to a ladder-and-cross print from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

A Hearty Party (Detail with Print of Ladder and Cross)
9 months ago.
 William Sutherland
William Sutherland club
Excellent series!
9 months ago.
Alan Mays club has replied to William Sutherland club
Thanks very much!
9 months ago.
 RicksPics
RicksPics club
I would never have guessed that they had just participated in a taffy pull. The only thing I can infer from your excellent, interesting, photographs is that pulling taffy must be a joyless experience. I can't imagine a social event of this size where no one displays even a mildly happy expression. With your extensive knowledge of Pennsylvania history, is there some reason, cultural or otherwise, that you are aware of which would explain the deadpan expressions.
9 months ago. Edited 9 months ago.

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