Creation Northeast History
Rev. Dr. Harry Thomas, Jr. and Timothy Landis founded Creation East in 1979 in Muddy Run Park in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. After just five years, the festival outgrew Muddy Run Park and had to change venues. In 1984, the Creation Festival was moved to the Agape Campground in Mount Union, Pennsylvania when the Board of Jesus Ministries offered to rent out the area for the festival. This year was also the first year for a festival wide Communion, which has since become a yearly tradition.
Creation 88 marked the festival's tenth year celebration with the largest crowd ever to participate in the festival. The 1988 festival concluded with a large firework display that continues to be a memorable part of all Creation Festivals. The first fireworks display at the Creation Festival was in 1983.
In 1992, the festival opened a second stage, "The Fringe Stage". Due to the festival's positive response to the concept of multiple stages, by 1994 both stages were constantly running at the same time in order to offer more variety and availability to hear other bands and speakers.
Due to thunderstorms and severe flooding, the festival was canceled in 1995 and 2006. In 1996 and 2003, the festival was held in Hershey, PA, with the concerts taking place in the Hersheypark complex arenas. Fans attending the four-day festival were offered a reduced price ticket to Hersheypark and camped alongside a large hill.
In 2008, the festival started an annual tour, passing through more than 30 cities across the U.S.
In 2010, Creation Northeast was held at Agape Farm in Mount Union, Pennsylvania, from June 30 – July 3, 2010.
Though Tim Landis has stepped out of his original role, Rev. Dr. Harry Thomas, Jr. continues to be involved, focusing mainly on expanding the ministry of the festival, but has passed on the majority of the producing and booking to Bill Darpino and Nick Kulb. Thomas still preaches a short message at Creation every year.
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