The Apple Festival!!

Today was the Apple Festival!!!! 
It was a beautiful day!  We got there at 10:30, and it was in the 70s with a little breeze -- just perfect for walking around!!  It was HUGE......

Look down at the end of this road.....that's the historic court house, and all the apple orchards were set up down the street behind it!  Oh what FUN, though!! :-D
I loved all the vendors, I could have photographed the whole time I was there!  There were all kinds of artisans and other businesses with tents and tables set up - the police had a table, the National Guard, a few banks and churches - and SOOOOO many things to buy......

 Those are crocheted pumpkins!!  They look so cute all piled up on the table!

I love all this handmade pottery!!!!

This woman is selling her handmade soap.....for $6 and inch!!  She had a cheese board and cheese knife to cut it with!  I don't know if you can enlarge the picture to see it better, but the soaps are all different colors, and they smelled wonderful!  ....hmmm....maybe I should try making my own soap sometime..... (haha!)

Look at these....they are GOURDS!  They are all polished and painted, some have twine or jute wrapped around them!  It looks like the sunlight made the picture a little foggy, but maybe you can see better if you click on it...?  I got some great ideas looking at these! :-D

Here are more pumpkins!  These I like so much better because they are made with fabric and burlap....I don't think they would be very hard to make, either!  I love the twine used to make the pumpkin veins - it looks perfect!!

Besides the pottery, these were my favorite things I saw today.....they are little faces carved in wood branch-pieces!  Look at them!.....

I love how each piece has it's own little personality!  The man who carved them looks like he's in his 70s, and was sitting there carving a walking stick while people came in and out of his tent!  He must be so creative to be able to carve all these little tree people, with all different faces!!  I grabbed his card (and the one from the pottery lady!) so I can look online at more of his stuff!
And finally, the star of the show, the reason that I was there (besides the fried dough and fried apple pies - YUM!!)......

I bought the Asian pears here (they are on the right), and I bought Winesap apples at another stand, they are the BEST cooking apples!  I would have taken another picture, but by this time, my kids were saying, "another one, Mom??".....so I figured maybe I had enough!! LOL
Here's my STASH.......

Oh the plans I have for these!!! :-D  (don't mind the dirty floor....)

So, it was a wonderful day!  I wish I had more money for some things I really liked, but that's ok.....I got what I wanted most!! :-D  Maybe I should start tabbing all my recipes! LOL
Tomorrow will be a nice relaxing day -- food shopping and then home with Brian!  We got the wood and paint yesterday, but I'm not sure if he will feel like putting the rest of my cabinet together yet....although, I haven't sanded or stained the new boards either, so there might not be time for him to put it together!  We'll see!!

Time for bed, I guess (it's 1am here).....I'll be dreaming of apples and pears! ^-^