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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

April 2016 Country Living Fair

Ever been to a Country Living Magazine Fair?   Mr. Bill and I went to the October fair 
in Stone Mtn., GA, a few years ago and decided we wanted to go one of the fairs again.  
This time we went to the April 2016 fair near Nashville, TN.  
If you missed this fair, no worries--there are still three more this year: 
Rhinebeck, NY, in June, 
Columbus, OH, in September,
 and Stone Mtn., (Atlanta) again in October.
  Now that I am blogging, I wanted to share it with you, giving you 
an idea of what it is like if you have never been to one.
The weather was just perfect for fair-going!


So much to see!  So many presentations to attend!  So much food--everything from the ubiquitous hot dog to French crepes with artisan salads in between!  And expensive fancy iced tea!
Part of the long line to buy the $$ tea!

With all those talented vendors, there was a wide 
variety of things to look at and, 
of course, purchase.
There were lots and lots of vintage things, collectibles,
 ingredients for charming vignettes, tablescape ideas, clothing, and even shoes!

A vendor's booth

Old enamel buckets sold by Great Stuff By Paul, Frederick, MD

This vendor brought the plants in containers you see below.

A rustic tote held a mini vegetable garden with an old spoon added for interest.

Old buckets with plants.

I was interested in getting a door basket and found 
lots to choose from.  


I settled on a smallish one, like the one in the middle of the door baskets photo above.

Every fair has to have some music.  There were a number of country vocalists performing on the music stage, but my favorite music was provided by the Thomas Wesley Stern Band.  From the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, they entertained the crowd with their roots music, a blend of country, bluegrass, and folk genres. 


They appeared here and there, sort of like wandering minstrels, 
and played toe-tapping music, for sure!

I was surprised to find clothing vendors--don't recall seeing any when we were at the Stone Mtn. fair.  What we saw was creative and eye-catching, to say the least.  You could go bright and quilted or subdued and lacy.



Need some colorful footwear?  



There were a couple of opportunities to meet the editor-in-chief 
of Country Living Magazine, 
so I took one of them, got in line, and made her acquaintance. 


Rachel Hardage Barrett is a Tennessee gal who graduated from UT.  
She was lovely and charming!
 If you are a magazine subscriber, you might recognize 
the background 
as the cover of the May issue. 

Also got to meet a well-known blogger who spoke at one of the events, KariAnne Wood.  She is a very humorous, animated, and energetic young woman who authors ThistlewoodFarms.com, a home decor blog.  She told the audience about some of her creative projects and fortunate finds as she talked about decorating on a little more than a dime. Plus, she gave us a photographic tour of her lovely home in Western Kentucky.  Here is the link to her entertainingly written blog: http://www.thistlewoodfarms.com/

KariAnne, left, and Ruth Anne, right

In spite of all her many successes, 
I found her to be super friendly and approachable, even offering 
to answer any questions I might have about blogging.  Boy, do I ever have them!

Well, that is enough for one blog post!  There are more cool things at the fair to write about, but that will be my next issue.

Thanks for reading and traveling along with me in Tennessee!

I'm joining some mighty fine link parties:

Share Your Cup Thursday  Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen
Amaze Me Monday  Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home
Talk-of-the-Town  myrepurposedlife.com 
Home-Garden-Thursday  A Delightsome Life
Simple and Sweet Fridays   Rooted in Thyme
Shabbilicious Friday  Shabby Art Boutique
Craft Frenzy Friday  Little Vintage Cottage
Saturday Sparks Link Party   Pieced Pastimes
Make My Saturday Sweet  Amanda's Books and More
A Morning Cup of Joe  A Cottage Market
Dishing It & Digging It  Rustic and Refined
Tweak It Tuesday  Cozy Little House
Inspire Me Tuesday  A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesdays  Savvy Southern Style

18 comments:

  1. I would love to attend a Country Living Fair one day. Thanks so much for sharing with us. :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you do get to go to one of the fairs--it really is a special time!

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  2. I sure wish Country Living would espand their faires out to California. Looks like such a fun time. Thanks for sharing with us at Talk of the Town.

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  3. All the fairs are in the East--it would be nice to have some for people in the western states! Thanks for your comment--I appreciate it!

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  4. My daughter and I had planned to drive to Nashville last weekend to attend Country Living Fair and I decided 9 hours one way was to much driving for me to attend.
    I went one year in Atlanta and it was great

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  5. Nine hours of driving is a little daunting! We drove down from Northern Virginia but stayed for a week in the area, so our trip to the fair itself wasn't bad. But, we still had to drive all the way back home afterwards! It was a wonderful fair. Thanks for commenting!

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  6. I grew up close to Smiths Grove, KY. This fair is on my to-do list for somewhere, someday. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I loved all the plants The Garden Patch brought to the fair. Those rustic totes were great! Their booth display gave me some good ideas for my own gardening efforts. I hope you will get to go to one of the CL fairs--it really is a special event!

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  7. How fun! I have often thought it would be fun to attend, but haven't yet. I think I better some time for sure. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    1. Hope you can put the CL Fair on your bucket list--I'm sure you will enjoy it. Thanks so much for commenting!

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  8. AnonymousMay 02, 2016

    Oh, I'm sure this was a wonderful fair, especially being a Country Living Fair! I grew up in Alabama and every September after school had started the fair came to town. Rides and food - nothing like this! How nice to meet a fellow blogger too. Thank you so much for popping in to see me.
    be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for checking out my account of the CL Fair--I'm still reliving it! There are still a few things I want to write about in another issue of my blog.

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  9. What a fun adventure! Thanks for sharing at Dishing It & Digging It!

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    1. I appreciate having the chance to share a lot of what we saw at the CL Fair--thanks for hosting a great link party!

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  10. Thank you so much for taking me to the Country Living Fair, I've always wanted to go, but all the locations are too far from me. So I really enjoyed your post and all the pictures!

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  11. Thank you for reading my post! The fair was great! We spent two days trying to take it all in--one day just wouldn't have done it justice. Too bad there aren't CL fairs farther out West--I'm sure there are loads of people who would love that. Thanks for commenting!

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  12. Oh, what a fun way to spend a day!

    Thanks for sharing with SYC.

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    Replies
    1. It was a great time--we bought weekend passes so we were able to spend two days touring the fair. Thanks for commenting--I really appreciate it!

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