Our day at the Kutztown Festival

On Saturday, we made our yearly pilgrimage out to Kutztown, PA to visit the folk festival. This was the first day of the event, and the busiest, too. I saw several tour buses and heard a lot of New York accents, so there were people galore. The Mister and I like to go every year, shop some of the vendors, enjoy a nice supper, and see the quilts and farm machinery demonstrations. Also, one of my favorite things is (just indulge me) visiting the petting zoo.

This is the Mister feeding a goat. The goats are a lot of fun, and probably more for us since we don't have any. When people who have goats tell me their stories, it really makes me second guess their cuteness.

The llamas in the petting area are always ill-tempered. Last year one got ready to spit at us, and this year one kept baring its teeth. I don't know what that means, but it didn't look good!

It was a nice day, warm with a lot of sun. One nice thing is that most of the vendors come back every year and are in the exact same place, so if you buy something good that you like one time, you can come back next year and get it again from the same people. There is a stand that sells natural herbals soaps, remedies, health products, and so on that I really like and visit every year. There are also several tents that are set up to serve Dutch meals family-style, and we go to the same one every year. The fare is pretty standard: Ham, Chicken, Mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, shnitz und knepp (apples and dumplings), chow chow, and bread with apple butter and schmeer kase (like cottage cheese).

At one place they do an ox roast, which is interesting to see but doesn't really whet my appetite!

The festival also has one of the largest quilt sales in the country. All of the quilts are made regionally, and I notice that most of them are hand stitched. Every single one of them are outstanding.

This is a picture from inside the quilt barn. It's even more massive that it looks.

Some of the most exceptional quilts are actually awarded prizes and then go to auction. The starting bids are well over a thousand dollars. Seeing all these quilts really makes me want to pick up a needle and get to quilting, though it would be impossible at this time of the year.

Wall hanging- Amish made, I'm certain.

Making apple butter the hard way. Someone has to be stirring this pot at all times.

There were a lot of good demonstrations. Some old-style carpentry building, roof thatching, soap making, and quite a bit of entertainment. Another interesting thing is that it is one of the few places where you can hear the PA Dutch language being spoken outside of an Amish or Old Order Mennonite community, and a lot of the signs are in the language.

It's always a nice day out. If you ever have the chance to go, it's definitely worth the trip. For us, it was a nice break from the endless renovation work and garden chores that take over at this time of year.