Enfield
Though this was Enfield’s fifth annual Old Home Days, the planning committee shook things up this year by organizing a craft fair with country fair-themed activities at the Stone Mill at the Enfield Shaker Museum.
“A lot of people don’t quite know what ‘Old Home Days’ means,” said Kristen Harrington, who co-chairs the committee that planned the weekend’s events. “But what it’s essentially about is bringing people together, and getting them back to their hometown and heritage, and celebrating that with an old-timey spin.”
The apple pie bake-off, for example, is the kind of “country classic” event that gives rural communities like Enfield their charm, said Harrington. Other nostalgia-infused events that day included a schoolhouse reenactment at the Lockehaven schoolhouse museum — where the “teacher,” Lisa Torres from Enfield’s historical society, had dressed the part in a long skirt and vintage-style blouse — and a lecture on the history of Enfield at the La Salette Shrine.
Not every event was strictly old-timey, though.
There was also a community sail on Mascoma Lake, a story time by the Enfield Public Library and several hikes throughout the day.
“We have such a diversity of young and old in our community that we wanted to offer something to every demographic,” Harrington said.
For example, 71-year-old Bruce Pacht, of Lebanon, had come to the Stone Mill for the live music — the Mascoma Valley Guitar Orchestra played two sets — but he stayed for “the customary greasy cheeseburger,” he said. He also walked away with a bag of cannoli, which he carefully strapped onto his new motorcycle.
“I’m kind of having a second childhood here,” he said.
The free pony rides, meanwhile, attracted those who were still in their first childhoods. As 7-year-old Blake Howard, of Enfield, tucked into a tray of French fries from the Boisvert’s Curbside Kitchen food truck, he reflected on his favorite experience from the day.
“The ponies,” he said, wiping a bit of food from his impressively pristine Spiderman face paint. “Becaue they were really pretty.”
Meanwhile, at the Lockehaven schoolhouse, Torres was teaching Izzi, T.J. and Javier Rosario, all of Enfield, about what it would have been like to attend the one-room schoolhouse back in the 1800s, when “texts” were something you studied, not something you sent.
“It was awesome,” said Izzi, age 10, minutes before 8-year-old Javier used an abbacus to complete an arithmetic problem.
For T.J., 12, the lesson was both humbling and humorous. He’d taken a quiz “to see if I’m smarter than an eighth-grader from 100 years ago,” he said. “It turns out I’m not at all. But they also had to know different kinds of stuff back then, so I feel OK about it.”
This year’s change in activities came as a surprise to some, like Michael Schorsch, of Orford. He’d been expecting an antique car show on Sunday, and so had driven down to the Shaker Museum his beloved 1966 model, only to find a parking lot full of modern-day Subarus (and Pacht’s motorcycle).
“But I’m not disappointed,” Schorsch said, noting the beautiful weather and the historically significant location of the craft show. “It was well worth the trip.”
The outdoor performances by the Mascoma Valley Guitar Orchestra, directed by Jimmy Shibels, was a particular draw. The ensemble’s soothing, finger-picked tunes drifted airily around the venue, and a small audience gathered with blankets and chairs in front of the orchestra’s tent, humming along to such crowd-pleasers as Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide and Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show.
Between performances, musicians mingled with the other fair-goers. One new member to the group, Ken Swanson, of Canaan, is a recent transplant from the southwest who said he was deeply taken with the weekend’s activities.
“I just feel very comfortable in this environment. The desert has its own thing going on, but when you look around here, you have trees and rocks and hills and quiet,” he said. “A lot of folks might say the city’s the place to be, but I think when you have this sense of community, where you can get to know people, it’s much more meaningful.”
The 80-degree weather was tempered by strong gusts of wind, which presented a challenge for some vendors: Robin Daniels, of the Lempster, N.H.-based Quilted Treasures By Me, ran off mid-interview to chase down some of her hand-stitched fabric coasters that had blown off.
Still, “I just love craft fairs,” she said after she’d corralled her runaway items and secured them under a makeshift paperweight. “It’s so gratifying meeting the other vendors. I think we really appreciate each other and what we all go through and deal with. It creates such a sense of community.”
For other vendors, like Jack Hinckley of Brattleboro, the wind provided the opportunity to show the merchandise in action. Hinckley owns Apex Whirl Winds, and hand makes what he calls “kinetic sculptures” out of aluminum. In the wind, the sculptures spin, tornado-like, creating a hypnotic effect.
“I think the word you’re going for is ‘mesmerizing,’ ” he joked.
In light of the diversity and levity of Sunday’s events, Harrington said she plans to bring back the country-fair-meets-craft-show element of Enfield Old Home Days next year.
“It’s just so country,” she said. “You can’t beat that.”
EmmaJean Holley can be reached at eholley@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.