Trades Fair at The Homeplace Last Year (these guys were great!)

There are many, many, many reasons the time of year we’re approaching is my favorite…

• UK Basketball is within reach
• Post-Season Baseball is always exciting for a St. Louis Cardinals’ fan
• Autumn Leaves
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Cool, crisp air
• Elks “bugling” in the Elk & Bison Prairie
• Trades Fair at The Homeplace
• Etc….

The Homeplace 1850’s Farm will host a Trades Fair on Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4, from 10am to 4pm in Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Each year, around now, I begin to get SUPER excited about the Trades Fair. Don’t get me wrong, I love to visit the Homeplace as often as possible, throughout the year, but the Trades Fair is extra, extra special and… to be perfectly honest…  I look forward to it all year.

Traditional trades and crafts people share knowledge of vanishing folk art skills. They’re available (and more than willing!) to talk to you one-on-one about their crafts and they’re always fascinating.

Admission is $5 ages 13 and older, $3 ages 5-12, and free for ages 4 and under.

“Our annual 1850s Trades Fair offers fun activities for all ages. The event doubles as an open market for talented folk artists, crafts people, and merchant traders wishing to sell their wares and keep these skills and traditions alive for generations to come,” explains Cindy Earls, Homeplace Lead Interpreter.

When we go to the Trades Fair, we love to spend the day at The Homeplace, eat at Willow Pond in Aurora, then head straight to the wonderful Elk & Bison Prairie.

Perfect, perfect day!

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The Homeplace Wears September Beautifully!

Children can participate in the Children’s Trades Fair by learning to make a clay pot, hauling a maul, talking to trades people and answering questions in an activity booklet. Kids can explore the farm, play with dolls, “cluck” at chickens, and “oink” at pigs. Adults can join in too!

The Homeplace farm family will demonstrate spinning yarn, wood working, and blacksmithing throughout the weekend. At 11am and 2pm, staff will be cooking a few favorite bread recipes from the Homeplace History and Receipt Book on a wood stove in the Double Pen House kitchen. Blacksmithing demonstrations will be 10am-12pm and 1-4pm. The Dixie Volunteers will play old-time music from 1:30-2:30pm and 3-4pm.

Trades and demonstrations include:

• 19th Century Sketch Art
• Baker
• Corn Shuck Doll Making
• Early American Indian Pottery Making
• Fancy Tatted Lace Making
• Fine Hand Knitting and Crocheting
• General Store
• Hand-carved Mandolins
• Homemade Breads and Baked Goods
• Honey Products and Bee Keeping
• Photography
• Woodworking

For more information about the Homeplace Trades Fair, go to http://www.landbetweenthelakes.us/calendar/homeplace-1850s-trades-fair/2016-09-03/.

See more pictures I took from the 2015 Trades Day at The Homeplace (scroll to the bottom). Photographers, it’s an especially beautiful time of year to enjoy all the beautiful photo opportunities The Homeplace (and all of the Land Between the Lakes, for that matter) has to offer.