"P&C Fresh Spring Fling"

Rolled off the sheets Thursday morning at 4:30 AM got ready and was out the door at 5:30 driving down to Waitsfield to pick up the Cabot Van.
I had just arrived then Chris showed promptly up and he passed off the keys, so then I transferred all the goods for my events in NY into the van and away I went heading to Ithaca first.

Even though it was a nice morning and finally feeling like summer was on the way, there was still snow on the ski trails as I was leaving.

I had a pretty uneventful drive over, but just a little tedious because it was for the most part desolate scenery through the Adirondacks, the highway I was traveling on was voted one of the most scenic in the country, but to me it looked like a routine drive through Vermont, :-)  but I’ll take their word for it.

Got to the store and went in introduced myself to the manager and got all set up, without a hitch.
I was all ready for the onslaught when the whistle blew, the whistle blew but the onslaught never really came.
It was a really nice day outside so that was probably one of the reasons, but for whatever reason, according to those working there, the attendance was down from the previous year.
However the last hour or so it was much busier.

Having the Cabot Van was a nice advantage though, since I had plenty of people stop and tell me they saw the Van and came inside.

They had a great selection of Cabot and McCadam Cheddar there and the shelves were fully stocked.

 

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My table was ready to go so all I needed was customers, the Vegetable Ritz Crackers? the Asst. manager brought them over and said to sample those with the cheese, I just said yes Ma'am.

The had a 2 piece band playing there all afternoon, not sure what their name was, but I could not hear them from where I was, but I took a picture of them as I was going to the rest room and they sounded very good.

As I said it wasn't a real busy day, only average, especially  for the amount of work the store had gone through to make it happen.

Everyone that did make it though made the end cap sampling loop, and they had time to hang around the table and talk about farming in general and AgriMark farmer's in particular, and I had a chance to spread the word about our Cheddar and how important and relevant it was to the New York Contingent as well as all the other Farmers who owned the Brand.
As always the message was well received, along with the cheese of course.

After the day was finished I  got cleaned up bought a Sandwich for supper and headed out, it was about 7:40 or so and then I  boogied on over to the La Tourelle where I  was to spend the night.

I got there too late to partake of the Wine and Cabot Cheese night they do there, so I just headed on up to my room and  wrinkled my sheets for an early start the next morning.

Very nice Place to stay inside it reminded me of an old Victorian Inn.
Got up early and headed on down towards Catskill via Simsbury CT.
~

Drove on down to Simsbury CT. (about a 5 hr drive)  got there about 11:00,  which was about an 1.5 drive East of my destination for Saturday. but I had the afternoon and night to spend with my son and his family.

I had a nice time with them I even had Time to take them out for ice cream and went to an elementary school dance before turning in for the night and rest up for my long day the next day,

Got up early Saturday had  some coffee, hugged my Grandkids goodbye, and headed
to the

"Rip Van Winkle Wine and Cheese Festival"

Didn't get real far away when I entered into Canaan CT and I went right pass the
 Laurel Brook Farm so I stopped and took a couple of pictures of their fancy finished barn. I was going to stop but didn't see anyone around so I just moved on.

I had noticed people picking up and cleaning up around Hillsdale NY so getting into my Random Acts of Cheddar mode I stopped and talked to a few people since I had some cheese left from Ithaca and some time to kill.
I approached this one group of ladies who were weeding and cultivated the flower patch around the town's welcome sign.

So we talked for a while and I thanked them and explained our program and gave them all a bar of cheese they were happy to get that and thanked me, and the farmers for their generosity, and I mentioned the Laurel Brook Farm I had passed earlier and told them to check it out.
I hopped back in the Van and moved on.

 Crossed over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and on down to the location of the Venue, unloaded and got all set up and ready to go.
 I was fairly early and the wind was blowing through the building like crazy, but at least I had remembered my "Gorilla Tape" which is just duct tape on steroids to hold everything in place.

Walked out back and looked over the river and there was a fairly big barge heading down the river.

Went back inside and looked around the display's which had plenty of interesting antique's there, like these high tech wonder's of not so many years ago.

Hand powered tools.

And a foot treadled sewing machine which was a miracle of the age at the time, like the early 1800's

Then I went back inside to see how everyone else was doing getting all set up.

Talked to a local Cheese Maker for a while and I tried a couple of pieces of those, like a hot pepper cheese they made it was pretty good, but of course it was lacking the zip and quality of our Habanero Cheddar.

Lex Gray, the lead singer of the Urban Pioneers was running around all over place helping out and killing time and we had our picture taken together in front of the Cabot Table.
She has a good blues voice and a nice fun stage presence as well, I was glad the group was there it made for a lot of fun but loud when they were playing.

A little later the band was about to rock and so was my table.

My Neighbor was the publisher of the Hudson Valley Wine Magazine and her and her helper were a blast all day, we had fun and they baby sat my table when I made a bathroom run.

Couple of other interesting vendors there  Sweet Rama's was an outfit that made
soap from Goats Milk, who ever thought of that I have no idea, but they were into it.

All kinds of Wine Makers and Beer Brewers there,  every make and model.

Almost exactly on time they opened the doors and in came the folks and there was a steady stream of people all day after that.

My neighbor behind me made unique hand crafted jewelry

Another made Wine Slushies I did not try any, to me it just didn't sound good but lots of people did partake.

So once we got going and the bands started we didn't have much time to goof off and it was busy and loud right up to quiting time and just like it started, it ended the same way

Here is a video I took of one of Lex Gray and the band, her husband played lead guitar, the bass player in the band was a real cheese lover he had more cheese than almost anyone who came up to the table and of course I was happy to oblige him.

I also panned the crowd so you can get an idea of the people, and there were some tables outside as well

Almost promptly at 5:00 PM the music died, the crowd died down,  and everyone packed up, I cleaned up, loaded up, and headed north about 6:00 or so.

As I rolled into Rutland the day was winding down, the sun was going down
and I was wearing down



I drove on over to the office in Waitsfield back loaded "my" rig  and headed on up to Craftsbury, rolled in my dooryard about 11:15 I had a busy, fun and I think, successful 3 days.
Till next time
Jim, Ovr'n Out