A couple of years ago, I saw Shannon of the Little Elephant Stitchery post her photos of the Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio. I had it marked as something I would like to do, but it always seems something comes up or the timing isn’t right but finally this year I made it a point to attend.
Columbus is an easy 2-hour drive from Cincinnati so my mom and I drove up Saturday and enjoyed the day walking around Ohio Village. Even though there is a variety of fair food and goodies, we packed a lunch and dined on it before we started the drive home. It gave us a chance to talk about what we saw and liked that day. I love that my mom and I share similar interests and have the health to do these activities.
We saw lots of blue canning jars, bingo cards and flash cards and other school related ephemera. There was too much of a crowd around the basket of mannequin feet and the $1 decoupaged clothes pins or a package of 4 clothes pins for $5.
As lovers of antiques and crafts, we had a fantastic time looking around each of the booths and popping into the demonstrations. If I lived in Columbus I would have taken advantage of the weekend pass and gone for a couple hours each day because there is so much to see and enjoy, it is definitely worth the experience.
The #1 booth I wanted to visit, was Gooseberry Patch. I love their holiday books, which are recipes and crafts all rolled into one beautifully photographed book. The cookbooks remind me of my mom’s collection of neighborhood and church cookbooks. Someday, I should do a post about Gooseberry Patch and why I like them.
I did not realize I was a photo leaner, sorry Jennifer! I wanted to meet the real live person behind their Twitter account and even asked for a photo. Although my mom is not into social media, she thinks it is so neat that you can follow the activity of someone or a brand and then meet them in person.
We stopped in the Country Living General Store and I was facing Sarah Gray Miller, who was in and out of conversation with employees. I didn’t really have anything to say to her and I didn’t want to be a fangirl and ask for a photo, so I didn’t – ha!
If you live near Columbus, Atlanta or Austin (added for 2012) and like open-air markets of antiques and crafts, I recommend visiting the Country Living Fair at least once in your life.
To see more of the photos and comments about the fair, visit my Flickr stream – Country Living Fair 2011 Columbus Ohio.
