Highland Maple Festival begins this weekend

Maple Festival 2009.
SWAC Daughter made a friend.

The streets of Monterey will once again be overflowing with visitors as the 52nd Annual Highland Maple Festival begins this weekend, running March 13-14 and March 20-21, 2010.

Head over early to spend the day and you can indulge in maple pancakes for breakfast, maple chicken for lunch, and maple donuts and funnel cakes for snacks as you tour the sugar camps.

It may be warm where you live but be sure to carry a heavy coat and boots because it's still winter in the mountains with plenty of snow and cold winds.

FLOOD WATCH: This weekend's weather forecast for Highland is calling for rain, heavy at times, on Saturday ... and more rain on Sunday, with chance of flooding and dense fog because of the snowpack still on the ground. Check out the seven day forecast.

If this weekend's weather does not cooperate, there's always next weekend. Be safe out there....

See related article in the Staunton News Leader.

Photo by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
21 March 2009

Cestari Wool Fair this weekend in Augusta County

Cestari Wool Fair will be this weekend, Saturday and Sunday (April 25-56), from 9 am-5 pm both days. Head out to Churchville in Augusta County, a beautiful part of the central Shenandoah Valley, and join in the fun.

Free admission and free parking ... great food ... sheep shearing ... spinning demonstrations ... lots of craft vendors ... pony rides, wagon rides, sheep-go round ... tours of the wool mill.

Cestari will be sponsoring the Scarf project to knit a portion of the world's longest scarf as a part of the Keep the Fleece program to raise money for Heifer International.

Linda Cortwright of Wildfibers Magazine and Mr. Umaru Sule of Heifer International will be here both days.

The Wool Fair is located at Cestari-Chester Farm, 3581 Churchville Avenue, Churchville, VA 24421.

Directions: I-81 to Exit 225. Take bypass south to Rt. 250. Turn right at bottom of exit ramp (west) toward Churchville and go 4 miles. Cestari-Chester Farm will be on the right as you enter the village of Churchville. Info: (540) 337-7282.

More photos from Highland County 2009

Photos by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
March 21, 2009

Farms and back roads of Highland County

Photos by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
March 21, 2009

He's a hard working dog ... sheep farming in Highland County

Lucky may look relaxed but he is on high alert with sheep grazing nearby. Under his watch he has lost only one sheep to coyotes at this Highland County farm. He is on the lookout for two-legged as well as four-legged trespassers....

It's lambing season....





Rock walls are common....

Photos by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
March 21, 2009

Highland County, Maple Festival, and sheep....

SWAC Daughter made a friend....

It was a family outing as we headed out the door early Saturday morning to hit Rt. 250 on our way to Highland County for its 51st Maple Festival and to drop in on friends who have a sheep farm in Blue Grass. The kids wanted maple pancakes for breakfast, maple chicken for lunch, maple donuts and maple funnel cakes for snacks, and everything else that makes a trip to the Maple Festival a memorable event.

It was sunny and cool -- coats and gloves warded off the cold -- as we strolled the streets of Monterey, stood in line for the famous Mill Gap Ruritan Club maple donuts, and ran into friends and family.

Standing in the donut line ahead of us were Augusta GOPers Larry and Barb Tillett with their friends, which was a pleasant surprise seeing their familiar faces. At the rescue squad building we ran into my step-brother and his wife who live near Williamsburg, another pleasant surprise. I had no idea they were going to be in Highland, and the chances of not running into each other in the crowds that had filled the sidewalks and spilled over into the streets were incredibly high.

As we walked the main street of Monterey, traffic could be seen stopped on Rt. 250 up the mountain, sitting at a complete stop. We later heard it was backed up 3-4 miles; one couple we ran into said they sat in line 45 minutes waiting to get into Monterey. I was glad we had been ahead of the traffic.

We hit the back roads and toured sugar camps, took photos of the mountains and valleys, and interacted with the critters ... sheep, a donkey, horses, a llama, and a sheep guard dog named Lucky who has lost only one sheep to a coyote on his watch. SWAC Daughter bonded with the sheep pictured above, a people-friendly ewe on a sheep farm.

At the end of the day we stopped in McDowell to check out the Stonewall Ruritan building and visited with Churchville attorney Francis Chester and his family at their Cestari-Chester Farm booth ... and then began the 45-minute drive home up and over the mountain.

What a wonderfully relaxing day in the beauty of the Highland mountains. I'm ready to go back....

Sunday is the last day of this year's Maple Festival ... great weather is on tap and there will probably be crowds again so head over early and get in on the fun before it's gone!

More photos will be posted....

Photo by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
March 21, 2009