Neustadt Markt

It's a sunny, cool (10C) day at the farmette. Will go to 21C. I needed a sweatshirt on my rounds this morning, but that's okay. I could take this weather for the entire summer.

Summer also means all the festivals and markets are up and running in Grey County, and yesterday we drove over to Neustadt for the one the Lions Club put on. It's only about 20 minutes away.

We had a gorgeous day weatherwise. Several crafts people and bakers had set up their kiosks and the paths were filling up with locals and tourists looking for bargains. The traffic director with the blow horn even pointed out a parking spot right at the entrance for us. Bonus.

The most unusual setup was Andres Alpacas. Right beside the main display, where they were selling all manner of wooly delights, including mitts, hats, socks and dryer balls, the actual shorn animals were looking their best and mugging for cameras. The farm is close by, in Hanover, near the drive-in theatre, and owner Henry Mengers told me you can tour the facilities, as long as you call first to make sure someone's home. Bonus.

The public park in Neustadt is beautiful, with soccer pitches, mature trees, a playground and a pavilion serving burgers and hot dogs. All courtesy of the Lions.

Meux Creek runs alongside the park, and the Lions Club built a pedestrian bridge that hooks up the creek trail to the park. Nice.

Gotta love the sense of humour of some of the vendors. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sweatshirt, which was for sale. WTF really means Where's the Fish?

An added bonus was that we bought meat pies from Dede's Authentic African Kitchen stall for lunch. I forgot to take a picture, but the fare was yummy! We bought extras for the freezer.

All in all, it was a lovely outing, and a bit of a respite from the busy garden work I'd been up to. Plus it was laundry day, which meant putting our clothes out on the line.

The diversity of offerings was astounding for a wee place like Neustadt. We didn't stay long, but we had a blast. Until next week.

Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Wilma. As the lone female now, she's taken charge of the bed duties since Bea's passing.