Manton Apple Festival

 Saturday we drove 45 miles up to Manton

to attend the apple festival.

  This was our first time to attend

even though we've lived here for 

13 years.  We used to attend the 

Sebastopol Apple Festival 

when we lived in Napa, CA.

 I loved that festival. 

Manton's Apple Festival is a much 

smaller version, but still fun.

It's held in a field near the museum

in a valley that was devastated  with 

wildfire in 2005.

The hillside in view on the other side

of the festival was bare of trees as the

fire went through that area

burning 1,830 acres.

 

I don't know what they were baking 

in the Dutch ovens, but it did include

gallon cans of apples and bottles

of caramel sauce.

Too bad they weren't using fresh

ingredients and making the dessert

from scratch. I guess though,

when you're feeding crowds

of apple enthusiasts you take the

shortcuts as needed. 

Yummy looking apple hand pies.

Lots of jelly and jams ....oops,

those are body scrubs.

There was even some wine grapes

available for sale.

Olive oil tasting.

Lots of jewelry for sale also.

Ready for the pie baking contest.

Mike Krueger

 (our local television meteorologist)

was one of the judges.

Cute tote bags for Halloween candy.

 Blue Grass / Country music 

The music was wonderful.

Gourds

I have about 4 gourds that I've 

purchased from this vendor.

They've been at several craft bazaars

that we've attended over the last few years.

 I'll probably see them again at the 

Christmas bazaar next month.

I usually buy one when I see them,

but the space on top of the Hoosier hutch

is already full of gourds now.

This pumpkin/jack o'lantern 

was very tempting.

Thinking of storage space

and that green stem were the deciding

factors against purchasing it.

 I wish they had left the stem

in it's natural color.

I liked it's toothy grin though,

and that you can turn the gourd

around to it's plain side for 

displaying the rest of the autumn season.

What a cool wrought iron garden gate. 

Burlap and lace totes.

I've seen burlap and lace combinations

quite a bit in the last couple of years.

Loved these cutting boards.

I  have two similar ones,

 that our son made in high school woodshop.

More pies and jams.

Looks like some serious business there.

They were still tasting pie 

when we passed by again later.

The guy with the red sash ~

he's the mayor of Manton.

I don't know who the other two judges are.

How about a scoop of vanilla ice cream

on that serving of pie?

I love this photo.

I think it's her hands

that evoke stories, or memories...

We loved this photographers photos.

This one of Mt. Lassen

 was seriously tempting.

  

~~~

Note to Mother Nature.

Enough already...please.

It's October and it was 101 degrees

yesterday.  That just isn't right. Okay?