Heritage Festival - Crafts and Interests

This series of posts is about the heritage of the Shenandoah Valley. It goes without saying that it is also about change.

For example, every weekend that we have been out for a visit, we overhear a conversation in a restaurant – someone talking about where they live and work in Alexandria was the topic we overheard at dinner in Uncle Bucks last Saturday. (FYI, pork chops, southern style, $8.95).

But we’ve also met some folks that gradually have permanently relocated to the area. There is the fellow at the outfitters store downtown in Luray, who moved here with his wife and family over the last few years and opened the business last year. Or the beekeeper I wrote about yesterday who retired from Arlington into the Valley last year. Finally, there are our neighbors on Lawyer Drive near the cabin, in one case, the family is spending three days a week out there, in another, the couple has just made their place their permanent home.

So there is something of an influx of…people like us.

Back to the heritage festival, with this photo of a kids’ clogging club. There were about 20 kids, from elementary to teen in the group, teamed up to perform a number of dances, including “Cotton-eyed Joe” (of course). I guess the sign of change here would be that there was only one boy in the group. I took the shot from behind the group – in the auditorium the sun was too bright.

Other acts that performed were “The Misfits” and “Mokey” – I overheard the Misfits do a cover of Merle Haggard’s “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” while we were visiting the beekeepers. If I could sing, I’d cover that one too.

The other craft here is candling – I thought I had a photo of the canners too, but didn’t. It is really an industrious group of folks out there. We saw soap makers, wood workers, etc. And there is a lot of internet trading going on, almost everybody had an ebay site on their cards and price lists.

It reminded me of last year, when we visited Mary’s relatives in Michigan…one of the cousins there had a tropical fish business she ran on eBay, out of the farm office there in Standish.

Speaking of the Michigan trip, Mary and I both had a chance to drive a big ol’ John Deere tractor there…tomorrow’s entry, the final on this series, will have photos of some of the vintage tractors on display at the festival.