Welcome to the wonderful Land of Festivals. There never seems to be a shortage of things going on here in Ohio and this past weekend did not disappoint. If only I had the time to go to all of them but here is a variety of Festivals and events that we did go to this past weekend.
This past Saturday we started off at the Germantown Pretzel Festival. Germantown, 15 miles southwest of Dayton, has lovely historical buildings and just seems like a pleasant community. It was founded by German speaking people from Pennsylvania back in 1804. The festival is held at the Veteran's Memorial park and offers craft booths, entertainment, food, clogging by the Ohio Cardinal Cloggers, raffles and of course, pretzels. Chocolate covered, pretzel bites with dipping sauces, fresh-made large pretzels with lots of sea salt, and any number of sandwiches wrapped in pretzel rolls including bratwurst which was delicious. Every member of our group though suggests in the future that the rolls be heated or steamed. It's in the details! The homemade ice cream booth was our last stop. Yum!
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| Ohio Cardinal Cloggers. |
Our next stop was on Route 4 not too far up the road from Germantown. Kindred Spirits show held on the lawn of The Little House antique store. We had passed this on our way down and didn't know what it was. So glad we went back. It was a beautiful day to wander around the booths and vendors displaying antiques, collectibles and crafts. We also checked out the shop, barns and the "Christmas Coop" (formerly a chicken coop). Mentioning that we had been at the Pretzel Festival the proprietor asked if we had stopped at the Butter Barn? No, so back we went to Germantown in search of a butter yellow antique barn.
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| Kindred Spirits Show. |
Butter Street Barn on Old Butter St. is just off Route 4. A large barn full of antiques and collectibles, crafts and right now fun Halloween and Fall decorations. There are a number of out buildings full of items to explore as well. Both Butter Barn and Little House will be on the Fall Shop Hop held October 25 & 26. Look for this event on Country Neighbors of Ohio's Miami Valley on Facebook.
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| Gourd with pine needle basketry. Beautiful. |
Sunday found us on the road headed to Greenville to the Ohio Gourd Society 51st Show. Held at the Darke County Fairgrounds this is a three day event. It was definitely winding down but there were plenty of amazing gourds to view. We wandered through aisles of award winning gourds- carved, woven, painted, dyed and wood burned. Gourds that were grown into fanciful shapes, tiny to very long, 76" as in the picture below. So many varieties...who knew? Outside there were plenty of vendors selling gourds in the "raw" to inspire your own creativity.
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| Wood-burned gourd. |
First prize winning gourd 76"length dipper.
Another floor had gourd artists and vendors from around the country and booths selling art supplies. They also had demonstrations going on. Next year the Gourd show is moving to Delaware, Ohio which is 30 miles north of Columbus. As we were perusing the gourd festival inside it was pouring down rain outside. We decided to drive over to the Prairie Days event going on at the Shawnee Prairie Reserve and Darke County Nature Center.
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| Blacksmith Shop, Shawnee Prairie Preserve. |
Thankfully the rain stopped so we were able to walk the grounds more comfortably. Volunteers dress in costume and reenact life as it was between 1795 and the 1830's. We visited the blacksmith shop, saw corn being shredded and pounded into meal, and visited with pioneers in the log house where we were welcomed with warm sarsaparilla tea and a cozy fire burning. A lovely quilt was being sewn and three ladies were spinning wool upstairs. Next to the house is a garden tended by the Old Thyme gardeners, a group that specializes in gardening techniques of the 1820's-1830's. Here and there they were demonstrating pottery making to tin-smithing. Kids were having fun in the Craft and games tent. You could take a ride on a horse drawn wagon or walk through a tent encampment with smoke from the campfires hanging overhead in the trees. All in all a great afternoon rain or shine and a weekend that proved that there is no place like Ohio for fun festivals.
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| Log House. |
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