Alaska 2008

As I said in yesterday's commentary, the primary reason we spent an extra day in Middlebury was to visit what we believed was a flea market/farmers market in Shipshewana. We went there and were, to say the least, unimpressed. It is, in fact, a huge flea market with some stalls (I would say less than 10%) selling items that might be seen in a farmers market. In the complex was also an antique auction hall with multiple auctioneers talking at the same time. It was impossible to understand what they were saying... I guess the regulars must be tuned it to them. The closest thing to a farmers market was in the livestock auction adjacent to the flea market. We walked around for quite a while and then got tired of looking at so many stalls with socks, gloves, etc. and left the place.

After leaving the flea market, we decided to then drive to Nappanee, another community with a large Amish population. We were under the impression that we could find some farmers markets in this town where we could pick up some fresh produce and other products. We didn't find anything. On the way back to the campground we stopped at a place in Middlebury that was listed as a farmers market in the guide books and had a sign purporting to be one. Once again, nothing... a few vegetables, some jars of jams and jellies.

I guess we are spoiled by years spent going to Lancaster County, PA where we always found the kind of items we were looking for in this area. There is one large farmers market in Nappanee, but it only operates on Thursday, Friday and Saturday when we will be won't be here. So I guess we will just have to continue to go to Pennsylvania Dutch Country to get the foods we want... it is a lot closer to home.

Was this a lost cause... No! We did succeed in getting the fabric Susie wanted for a quilt. We satisfied our curiosity about the area and learned that while it is a bigger Amish community than in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, it just didn't have the "PA Dutch flavor" we are used to.