Covered Bridge Festival

For the past three years my mom and I have attended the Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana. Jared refers to it as the "trinket festival." The festival takes place in seven different towns. Vendors line the streets selling food, antiques and just about anything that you can imagine. Mom, Cooper and I took off early Sunday morning. I have to mention that the usual weather for Covered Bridge is cold and rainy. This year it was 85 and extremely humid.

Our first stop was Brazil. Brazil is one of our favorite stops because it is mostly antiques and garage sale type things. I love to hunt for treasures! Because the weather was so hot we didn't spend as much time as we have in the past. But I was able to find a couple of little glass bottles with cork stoppers for my new project. I got three bottles for a total of $2.50. Score! After Brazil we trucked it onto Bridgeton. It was so hot we didn't even get out of the car. The beauty of Bridgeton is that the vendors line the street on both sides. So we were able to drive right though. Nothing caught our eye so we trucked it onto our favorite place - Mansfield.

At Mansfield you can find anything and I do mean ANYTHING. Food vendors are selling ice cream, fried twinkies, fudge, sandwiches, kettle corn, apple dumplings, lemon shake ups, you name it they've got it. It's sort of like the State Fair only no rides. Alongside the food vendors are merchandise vendors. Miles and miles of stuff. You can find just about anything you ever wanted. There are dollar tents, people selling handmade items, As Seen on TV items (such as the Sham Wow! which we must have seen in 20 different spots), clothing, candles, make-up, socks, purses, toys, dog treats and the list goes on and on.

One of the things that really burns me about the Covered Bridge is that people bring their dogs. Big huge dogs and tiny teacup sized pups. People are pushing dog strollers and wearing doggie back packs. It truly amazes me that A) people would spend money on a dog stroller and B) they actually want to push and or wear the dog around all day in 85 degree heat.

We spent a total of two days at the festival. Even though it seemed like a long time we didn't come close to seeing everything in Mansfield. However we did get some great things. Mom got herself a brand new Elvis purse and lots of other things. I got some trinkets to help decorate my house a bit and some really neat jewelry. We ate great food. For lunch on the first day mom had a polish sausage sandwich and I had myself a philly cheesteak -my favorite. They both were good, but I'm not sure it was worth $14. The next day we had a pumpkin roll. Delish! For lunch we had homemade chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes. For dessert mom and I split a hot fudge brownie Sunday and an apple dumpling. It is impossible to eat healthy at the festival!

So mom and I have another year at the Covered Bridge our belts. And even though this trip just ended, I'm already ready for Covered Bridge 2009!