Chinquapin Festival!

New Friend at the Chinquapin Festival

What a wonderful, full and busy weekend we had at the Meadows of Dan Farmer's Market for Labor Day! Although traffic seemed to be a little off in the area due to the high prices of gas and all the sadness in the South, we had a good turnout of visitors and all the vendors reported good sales and happy customers.


Neglected Victorian

Friday was the beginning of the busy weekend. My SO has been trying to buy a house not too far from here (and not too close) so we met with the real estate agent to make a final offer. Which was accepted on Sunday. The house has been sadly neglected for a long time and it will take some work to restore it to former beauty and dignity. A fun project!

When we got back home on Friday afternoon, we set up my little canopy and helped a little with some final chores to get ready for the weekend. A big praying mantis was sitting on another crafter's tent; I didn't get her picture because I hadn't thought to bring the camera.

Saturday was a lovely, busy day with lots of vendors and people coming down to see what was going on with that big tent and all those little tents around it. Meadows of Dan Farmer's Market is there every weekend, but the Chinquapin Festival was something extra. Even if we didn't have chinquapins because they weren't out yet!


There I was as usual, "that Shelor girl just spinning away down there".


Then across from me was Diane, set up to paint faces and displaying hand made wooden toys.


Wonderful jewelry by an elegant artist!


Elise creates wonderful quilts, toys and baskets and is a writer.


Gourds by Sue, church birdhouses and stars.


Cheryl's pillows, throws, and quilted items.


Lonesome River Band and honey!


A local artist, Mr. Hubbard, who does wonderful portaits.


A local potter who does beautiful work.


Visiting Alpaca and his favorite friend.


Handmade Alpaca items


A storyteller came for Saturday and Sunday and delighted the crowd with his tall tales.


Local quilter Pam spent Sunday demonstrating her lovely work.


Another crochet artist, who makes beautiful buttons. I bought a decorated crochet hook from her!

Many people commented on the quality of the work done by the artisans, which may have been one reason we all did well! Sue at the Meadows of Dan Farmer's Market holds her standards high and there are some talented people coming to the festivals and to the tent every weekend.



Monday was the most beautiful of the three days, cool and clear and with just enough breeze. In the afternoon the Comptons, a local band, along with Sammy Shelor of the Lonesome River Band, came to entertain and a nice crowd visited with us. Some extra musicans showed up for a jam session and everyone was impressed with the local talent and enjoyed the show.

There are more pictures in an album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenberryhouse/, marked "Farmer's Market". It's hard to capture an atmosphere in pictures, though. There was a lovely festive feeling in the air all weekend, with the customers and the vendors alike. I think that after all the troubled times lately people just needed to get out and see a peaceful place.



Sue has one more festival planned this year, for the second weekend in October. I've been doing festivals for awhile and this one was the most profitable for me in the last three years. Of course, I'm only about 300 feet away, which helps cut the costs! But the other vendors were very happy with how well they did. One even made a connection with a consignment shop. Things are going well in Meadows of Dan; I'm hoping they're better in troubled areas of the country and world.

I came home to hear Lily barking a warning that something just wasn't quite right upstairs. So I dashed up to check and found that she had discovered a big praying mantis on a pillow in my chair. I carefully escorted it back through the window. So my weekend began and ended with a visit by an exotic looking creature that has always been fascinating to me. I wonder what that means?