52. MOUNTAIN STATE ART AND CRAFT FAIR

Ripley, West Virginia

7/3/2010

The Mountain State Art and Craft Fair began in 1963 to celebrate West Virginia’s centennial. Forty-seven years later, Laura, Daniel, Philip and I went there.

The fair is held outdoors at the sprawling Cedar Lakes Conference Center, with dozens of artisans demonstrating their craftsmanship. Tickets are a piddling $6 each and if you go on their website you can print out a coupon for $1 off. For the size of this event, $5 is almost criminally low. (Compare to the $35 admission price for the Cincinnati Flower Show, for example.)

When we first arrived the “Appalachian Lads and Lassies” were unenthusiastically Irish dancing. Odd name, since there was not a lad to be seen in the group. They were actually very good, but they all had that “I’m a pre-teen girl and I’m afraid that cute guy in school is going to see me actually doing this” look on their faces. You're outstanding, girls! Don't be embarrassed. Keep doing what you're doing, but smile. I really think that's all it would take to have people flocking to see you.

After watching the dancing for awhile, we explored the “interactive workshops” section of the fair. Basically, artisans would teach volunteers to make a small craft in the hand-made Appalachian style. Basketry, broom making, nature printing, woodturning, needle felting, rug hooking, and quilting were some of the stations. They even had spinning wheels you could use to spin yarn. One of the coolest stations had a man demonstrating how to create stained glass ornaments. We actually tried to sign up to try this, but he was so popular we couldn’t get a spot. It was still fun to watch other people though. Bear in mind that all of this was free with admission and you could keep the craft after you made it. (Learn from our inexperience: Come early to sign up for the workshops so you know you’ll get a chance. It’s not very clear from the research I did that you have to do that.)

Three times a day a farmer did a sheep shearing demonstration and I wanted to make sure Daniel got to see that. That was a lot of fun, since we had to wait around for a few minutes before the sheep were driven over in a little cart. Daniel kept pointing at them in amazement. He was then utterly shocked when the men took the sheep from the cart and out into the grass with the people. He stared in fascination at the shearing and watched shyly as older kids petted the now-naked sheep. (I use the term because there was a little girl, laughing hysterically and yelling, “The sheep is naked! The sheep is naked!”) Eventually, Daniel worked up enough courage to pat the sheep himself. His pride as his bravery was quite apparent.

Upping the ante, we brought him over to the alleged “Exotic Petting Zoo.” Apparently, a bunch of goats equate to exotic. Daniel was pretty scared at first, but his jaw literally dropped like a cartoon character when a baby goat jumped on me. Feeling it was now safe, he started to run around, terrorizing every animal he could. Actually, Daniel is a very gentle boy. We have taught him to pet our cat and he treated the goats in much the same way.

After Daniel had enough we went to the live auction station. I’ve never been to an auction before in my life, so I thought that was pretty exciting. I kind of wanted to bid on something just to say I did, but I was too chicken.

Feeling kind of hungry we did what all self-respecting cheapskates do – we went to all the food vendors for free samples. If you like barbecue sauce or salsa, this is for you. We thought the lady selling mushrooms growing on a stump was stretching “buyer beware” a little too far, but I never say no to a free sample. (I must note with happiness that absolutely every vendor was selling hand-made or hand-grown goods made only in West Virginia. No foreign invaders here.)

Before we left we stopped by a booth labeled “Westman Instruments” where a man was playing what we thought was a type of dulcimer. He explained that it is called a psaltery and he kindly took the time to give Laura a quick lesson. Actually, that incident highlights our experience at the fair: These craftsmen and musicians were there to demonstrate their wares, but mostly to educate people about some of these almost-forgotten art forms. It was clear they wish to ignite some of the enthusiasm that they have in others. Well, the first thing Laura did when we came home was look up more information on the psaltery. We regretted we hadn’t bought one while we were there. So, there are two more psaltery fans in the world thanks to the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair. Could there be a better recommendation from us than that?