October 9, 2010 - Hmm, Covered Bridge Festival, folks this one wasn't exactly what I set out for. BUT I found what I was looking for anyway. I'm on the outskirts of Indianapolis, Indiana. Wow, what a town this is! I'm a little west of the city on rt. 36 and I'm a little concerned because I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. Normally that wouldn't be a problem but when you see ONLY blue and horseshoes it is a little unnerving. And I don't mean most people; I mean everybody loves the Indianapolis Colts!
Parke County Covered Bridge Festival (PCCBF) is literally the whole county including 31 (that's right 31) covered bridges. It's pretty much a 32 mile by 40 mile antique sale, yard sale, farm tools, campers, boats, the biggest trucks you ever saw sale, fruit, veggie, and maple syrup stands, jellies and jams stands, that's a mouth full, (pun intended). This thing is way too big for one man, so I need to find a woman. A pathfinder, a tracker/navigator of sorts. 
So I do the only sensible thing I could do. I call my cousin Cathy. She lives a mere three hours north. She showed up two hours later! You see I drove 917 miles to go to a Fine Arts show and I found every thing else, just not the bull's eye.
Cathy and I set out to find a secret in Parke County, called Bridgeton. This is rumored to have the Fine Artist and Craftsmen that the Brothers hunt for. We were on dirt roads, narrow back roads; my Tom-Tom didn't even know where the heck I was. But my pathfinder cousin did. There it was, Bridgeton. I could talk about Bridgeton for hours. Like how an arsonist burned down their covered bridge and the community rebuilt an identical covered bridge to replace it. Total craftsmen for sure. An absolute piece of art unto itself!
This show requires 3 or 4 days. It is vast to say the least. Over 3000 exhibitors. They claim 1.25 million visitors. (I think they broke that number).
There were too many top shelf artists and craftsmen to tell about at the Covered Bridge Festival. You will have to meet them at the Brothers Handmade stores coming soon. We will also feature some in our Featured Artist section on the website.
- Gary Originals Wire-Sculpture Jewelry. www.garyoriginals.com very clean work, nice lines, stones were very impressive.
- Clay City Pottery. www.claycitypottery.com wide range of glaze colors and a large selection
- Earth Drops (soap). www.earthdrops.com wide selection of flavors. Has a great look about it.
- Lisa's Pie Shop. www.lisaspies.com I am sure Lisa borrowed God's recipe for these pies! Awesome!!!
Space limits me way too much, especially for this show. There are literally hundreds of top artisans in Parke County at this show. A MUST SEE!!! JOEL
