day at the apple festival

It finally happened...

Saturday morning dawned clear and crisp, and I rushed over to the farmer's market for my weekly local food shopping. When I returned home, Paul and Finn had eaten breakfast and were ready to head to the annual apple festival at a local historic park. We arrived nice and early, the air still a bit cool, and as we walked into the area's first community garden, I whipped out my camera and...silence. No clicking. The camera battery remained plugged into the charger at home.

So, we had an amazing time at the apple festival. As a plus, I probably spent more time living in the moment than I usually do when I'm behind the lens.

And all the photos are camera phone shots.

While I ranted and complained about my lack of picture-taking equipment, Finn found an overgrown arbor to race back and forth under. The gardens there are really beautiful, more-so I think, because of their status in the community and attachment to this wonderful historic establishment.

We had such a great time watching the period actors, making fires to cook and using their beautiful cast iron pots. I really love that this festival sticks to allowing crafters come who make beautiful crafts from punched tin, wrought iron, copper creations, and blown glass. It really gives an authentic feel to the event.

We had plenty of time to check out the historic actors because they were parked right beside the wagon rides. As soon as Finn heard wagon rides, he was a boy on a single-minded mission.

Then, of course, Finn had to check out everything in the village. He peered down the old well.

And we strolled by one of the c. 1788, restored Geimanhaus.

We paused to enjoy some of the folk music.

Finn also spent plenty of time climbing up and down into some of the old cellars left from the original structures, including an apothecary, blacksmith's shop, and several houses.

And then there were the apples. They had apple cider, cider slushies, apple fritters, apple dumplings, fried apple pies and the list went on and on. I chose a delicious dumpling and Paul and Finn shared a fritter. So delicious! I think we should come back every year just to try a new apple goody. And there were crates and crates of locally grown fresh apples. I know that we just picked 2 bushels of apples 1 week ago. But these were different apples. Actually, Philip's favorite apples are Granny Smith, and when I saw the crates of various apples, I knew he should have some of his favorites since the apple orchard where we picked didn't grow that variety.

This is one local festival we'll definitely make into a family tradition!