Country Living Fair

We worked this morning until noon and it was pretty quiet until the last hour or so.  Then we took off to see the town of Rhinebeck, however, the town was just full of people.  The Country Living Fair (like the magazine) was at the Fairgrounds and the excess of people were all over town and there wasn't a place to park.  That is why our campground was full too.  We decided to see what all the hubbub was about so we headed to the Fairground.  

The place was jammed with people so we had to walk quite aways to get to the entrance where we could buy the tickets.  We paid $16 each to get in so we figured it must be good. 

This is one of two campers that are being driven around the country by a couple of women in a group called Sisters On The Fly.  They gave a talk at one of the sessions.  We were too late to get in on it.  I sure would have loved to see how them manage living in this tiny thing.  They each have one but even so!!

 This is a group that entertained at one of 

the tents.  They were pretty good.

All the 4H barns  stalls had every kind of merchandise your little old heart desired from antiques to paintings and from crafts to garden vegetables.  There were other buildings full of stuff and lots and lots of tents.  It was endless.   

 You could walk in this little trailer to look around also but it was too hot for me to want to go inside!

These are carved gourds.  I am a little biased on these because Mark, my hair stylist in Marion, Iowa is into gourd art and his are so fabulous that these looked a bit amateurish in comparison.  

 Awesome work here!

Now I thought these might be a good craft project for the ladies at Winter Ranch (the RV resort where we winter).  They are table napkins with a holder that turns them into roses.  Very clever but it doesn't look hard to do.

Jerry Landers, the author and illustrator, for her books is signing books.  There were several writers doing book signings.  Jeri is from Rutledge, Tennessee.

A couple of pages from one of Jeri Lander's children's books.

 More of Jeri Lander's art

They also had tons of food vendors and I found one that had pierogies and, to my surprise they were almost like my mother used to make and very good.  These were potato and onion filled instead of like Mom's beef heart filling but they were much better than any of those frozen things you find in the freezer section of the grocery stores.  We had them with some Kielbasa and Sauerkraut.  Lunch was really good for fair food!

 Lee in line for lunch.

 Some of the food vendors

 The potato and onion pierogies with sour cream.  Yum!

The Kielbasa on a bun with sauerkraut.  It was delicious and the pickle wasn't bad either.

After lunch we walked through several building full of everything you can imagine and then we watched a flower arrangement demonstration by a gentleman who was on the cover of Country Living recently. 

This is the main stage.  There were several stages around the fairgrounds and various demonstrations going on all day and into the evening.  

 

Michael Devine was giving a demonstration on flower arrangements.  He was actually remaking arrangements from his book that showed some of the dinner arrangements that he has done.  Unfortunately, some of the hydrangeas had wilted and so the arrangement actually looked better in the bucket than it did when he was finished.  Then he made the green been tower but the green beans he had done up for the program disappeared and he ended up going to the store to get what he could get.  It didn't make a very good design as the beans were not long enough.  The ones in the magazine looked fabulous, however.  

Mr. Devine is a noted tastemaker and textile designer of handprinted fabrics.  He also has a natural passion for gardening, cooking and entertaining and is the author and photographer of An Invitation to the Garden published by Rizzoli International, a four season guide to entertaining in his garden.

  This is the cover of Michael's book.

This picture from his book shows the green bean topiaries and also ones made from brussel sprouts, radishes and turnips.  Someone actually asked him if he cooked the green beans after his event!!

After that we wandered on and on until we got really tired of walking and my leg was starting to give out, so we headed back to the truck.  

If you were actually looking for something special for your home, I don't see how you could fail to find something at this fair.  It was amazing.