LITTLE VALLEY, N.Y. — The Little Valley Fairgrounds was buzzing with activity over the weekend as knife dealers and collectors from across the country gathered to educate, appraise, buy and sell rare knives at the Village of Knives Celebration.

The three-day event celebrating 150 years of craftsmanship and history in the region also included wagon tours to Little Valley’s many cutlery factory locations, as well as the brick home (circa 1898) that still stands at 410 Fair Oak St. that served as both Case Brothers Cutlery Company’s offices and warehouse.

Highlights of the event were the live knife-making demonstrations by Walter Baranowski of Springville, History channel’s “Forged in Fire” champion, and Case descendant John Burrell of Ellicottville.

Together, they crafted three knives — the first made in Little Valley in 61 years. The unique knives were auctioned off with the proceeds from the entire event benefitting Little Valley, including its library and beautification efforts.

On Friday, Baranowski forged the blades by heating them to about 2,200 degrees, then shaping and pre-finishing them before handing the blades off to Burrell Saturday for the final finishing. Burrell created the leather handles with brass inlays and then put them on the tang, which is the portion of the knife that extends into or through the handle.

Baranowski, a fourth-generation metalworker, said his father was a welder and his grandfather a fabricator. Now the family tradition is being carried on by his two children, 10-year-old Wyatt and 14-year-old Sage, who are already forging knives in their father’s Springville metal shop, Baranowski Knife & Tool.

Sage considers it a hobby while her brother thinks he may make it a career.

KNOWN BY most as Ellicottville’s mayor and former owner of Burrell Cutlery, Burrell is the last Case family knifemaker. He was ready to take on the arduous task of finishing three knives Saturday afternoon.

While he waited for the blade hand-off from Baranowski, he relaxed and was full of humor wearing a replica Freddy Krueger Glove on his hand at his booth. He said the glove was donated to the event and would be auctioned off Saturday night during the VIP dinner at the Legion.

“This is a replication of the original Freddy Krueger Glove of knives from the scary ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ movie,” he said. “The original glove was made with four P210-5 knives, called tomato slicers, made by Burrell Cutlery in Ellicottville for the W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company in Bradford, Pa.”

Burrell said his grandmother, Addie, was a Case. Her father, Jean Case, was president of Case Brothers Cutlery in Little Valley, which started up in 1898.

“Over the years, there were 32 different cutlery companies that were either owned by or run by members of the Case family,” he said. “Today, I’m the last member of the family to make knives.”

Burrell said he was at Burrell Cutlery for 40 years, starting in 1967, and he closed the business in 2006.

“My grandfather Burrell started the company in 1940. I worked on the machines at Burrell Cutlery with my dad as a kid,” he said. “I started making knives again about two years ago in a little shop I built. I’m the last member of the family to manufacture knives.”

DURING THE event, state Sen. George Borrello presented Burrell with a proclamation honoring the Village of Little Valley as the origin of W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company and the epicenter of American Cutlery.

Larry Mazurczyk of Little Valley found several vintage knife blades, including a Kinfolk blade and a Ka-Bar, in his barn and brought them to the show. He said his grandfather Dempsey worked for Case in Bradford, and he currently lives in the former home of the late Jean Case, Burrell’s great-grandfather.

Collector Ronald Meyer of Scio said he has collected knives for years, with some dating back to the early 1900s. At one time, he had over 400 in his collection. He has family ties with the Whitmore family in Little Valley who worked for the Case and Champlin families at the Cattaraugus factory for many years until it closed.

A family of Case descendants including Jean Gernatt; her daughter, Adrienne Kelly; and granddaughter, Cassandra Kelly represented the American Museum of Cutlery, located in Cattaraugus. Information from their educational booth said nearly 200 companies in the region once made axes, knives and other tools, making southwestern New York and northern Pennsylvania the highest concentration of cutlery companies in the Western Hemisphere.

Later Saturday afternoon, Lenny Anzivine of Olean assisted Burrell with the final steps to finish the three knives that were crafted over the weekend. After cleaning with alcohol, he coated the knife handles with an extremely durable clear lacquer.

Organizer Brad Lockwood, a local author and Case descendant, said one knife was donated to the Little Valley American Legion where it will be on display. The other two were to be auctioned off at the VIP dinner held Saturday night at the legion, once the home of Andrew Jackson Case known, back in the day, as “Robins Roost.”