Tis the season to be festive and the Poconos oozes with festivals and fairs from the end of August into Mid-September. Poconos tourist sites lure with great deals such as “Pocono Experience Passports” and can’t miss slogans such as “Small Town Charm Meets Big Adventures”. A tiny sampling of the fair fair includes: The West End Fair, the 164th Annual Wayne County Fair, and the Greene Dreher Sterling Fair . We are advised that we can shop for treasures at the Pocono State Craft Festival, get out on the water during Wally Lake Fest, or enjoy live music all over town during Stroudfest (presented by the Sherman Theater). Also, The Coal Miner’s Heritage Festival, Hawley Silk Mill Fiber Festival, Catherine Street Fall Block Party, Arts and Crafts Fair in Bingham Park, COTA Jazz and Arts Festival, Pocono Irish-American Festival and Septemberfest. Milford Readers & Writers Festival and the Pocono Garlic Festival (face masks included?) are there for the taking. Whew! And that’s just for starters.
Last year we attended the Wally Fest at Lake Wallenpaupak, three days of crafts and food and music at different venues adjacent to the lake. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the crafts. So pleasantly surprised that we too quickly ran out of cash but were able load up on Christmas gifts for loved ones. Our friend, Jan, was able to purchase a set of antlers at the antler booth for herself. Her husband, Rich, would be thrilled (sarcasm here) to have to mount them on their outside wall at home. Alas, we sampled neither the music nor the food. We left early because we were tired after spending all our money. Police were now controlling the bumper-to-bumper traffic, and it was very busy and the music, on the beach with dozens of boats, would begin in late afternoon. All this would have to wait another year.
This year we were ready for Wally Fest. We cleverly decided to go at 10:00 a.m. on Friday to beat the crowds since traffic and parking got quite clogged last year. Plus, by arriving early at 10:30 we would get the best stuff. We entered the first venue which is the Wallenpaupak Visitor’s Center. I was thrilled to get what I deemed to be an excellent spot in the small parking lot. As we walked towards the craft booths we noticed that while there were booths, the tents were all set up but none of them had any crafts. Warning bells set off in my mind. We met a woman carrying some crafts from the trunk of her car to her booth and asked her what time the Fair opened. “Noon”, she replied as she hurried off. Noon? Noon? Oy vey! No wonder I got the best parking space. On further reflection we realized that we had come on a Saturday, not Friday, last year. Whoops! We had 90 minutes to kill. We went into the Visitor’s Center. It was empty so we had the full attention of Wally Fest and Chamber of Commerce information people at various tables. We are polite so we got some pamphlets. Then we took turns taking our pictures in front of a stuffed bear and it was 10:45. Not wanting to give up my parking spot, I saw a Real Estate Office across the street and suggested we look at pictures of houses for the next hour. That did not go over well. Jan and her Rich suggested we visit the Silk Mill and then wander downtown Hawley about 15 minutes away. Off we went to the Silk Mill just outside downtown Hawley, suburban Hawley if you will. It is not a silk mill any more. It has not been one for decades but has gone through several iterations including antique selling and a branch of a local college. I consulted the Silk Mill website and found it “has evolved into a vibrant shopping and lifestyle destination, browse curated boutiques, sip on craft coffee, unwind in wellness studios, and experience a year-round calendar of events—all within a National Historic Landmark reimagined for today.” Almost all of these were closed. We couldn’t even “unwind”. Someone remembered that we could see a waterfall from the Silk Mill. We wandered around the outside and were standing between a large air conditioning unit , a utility shack and a wire fence but no waterfall when a gentleman drove up, asked if he could help us. He told us how to find the waterfall and proceeded to try to sell us on a wedding venue that he had at the Silk Mill. None of us had any wedding planned put we were able to see the waterfall from the veranda. There was no water falling from the waterfall. Off we went to downtown Hawley which is basically one street. I should note that we have been here in the Poconos for over 20 years and I still confuse “the H’s” Hamlin, Hawley, and Honesdale which are all north of us. Street parking was no problem. Go early on a Friday morning if you wish to explore Hawley. I’m pretty sure it was Hawley. We walked slowly. There are stores, a bar that advertises “The World’s Worst Food”, a couple of restaurants and a former train yard with a caboose. Rich, an avid skier, got briefly excited about a sign across the street. However, even though sign said “Ashki”, it was a realtor. Rich thought it had something to do with skiing. You can also book “Electric-assist rail biking on historic railroad tracks.” A 10-mile scenic ride passing the Brookfield Hydroelectric Power Plant. You can also see the Lackawaxen River which resembles the Los Angeles River in that it is all concrete. The 10-mile scenic ride was fully booked for the day. One must book it online. The next day we checked the prices. Tandem Bike (Seats up to 2 people): $125 – $140 per bikeQuad Bike (Seats up to 4 people): $225 – $245 per bike. That’s a chunk of change but you do get to see the Brookfield Hydroelectric Power Plant. By now, if we walked slowly back to the car, we would arrive at Wally Fest for the noon opening. On the way to the Visitors Center we passed the High School. It is the Wally Fest’s principal shopping and eating venue has lots of land and lots of vendors and even a boat show. Something was wrong. There were no vendors, no food trucks and no boats. The High School parking lot contained just cars. Slowly, it dawned on me that this was Friday. School was in session. These were teacher and student cars. This main venue would not open until Saturday! No antlers for Jan. Arriving back at the Visitors Center we found everything in full swing such as it was. I didn’t get my parking spot but there were lots of them since the booths had only opened 5 minutes ago. This year, as last year, the first vendor we encountered was selling doggie treats. Jan loves dogs. She loves talking about dogs. He had a dog. She was still talking to the dog guy after we had visited 5 more booths or so. She did buy some doggie treats though. Their dog, Breezy, would be happy. Fortunately, the wood craft booths were open. We remembered them from last year and were able to make some purchases for Christmas gifts. Oh, and we saw the beach, which would be filled with music lovers later in the day. However, at the current time it was empty save for one fake coyote facing the water with a few geese off shore eyeing it suspiciously.
After all that we were there a half hour or so.
It was time for lunch and there is a small restaurant named Cocoon near the Silk Mill. We went back to the Silk Mill. Killing 90 minutes and then shopping makes one hungry. Cocoon is one of those deli-type eateries in which one peruses the menu on the wall above the counter, makes a selection, pays and then goes to a waiting area for the order to arrive and be called out with your name. Our order was for “Margaret” and my lunch was the “San Francisco” sandwich. Rich and I went to the waiting area and waited and waited and waited for our names to be announced. While waiting I noticed that sometimes the order itself instead of a name was announced. “Greek Salad”. This meant if two people had the same order and one of them was not in the immediate waiting area, order poaching would occur as someone took someone else’s lunch. I saw two incidents of order poaching as I waited and waited. Rich had ordered a “Memphis” sandwich. Finally, his came. I waited. People who had come in after me got their meals, ate them and left. I waited. Finally, after an inordinate amount of time and witnessing another incident of “poaching”, I went to the cashier to inquire about my “San Francisco” sandwich. She checked. It “didn’t go through”. She said “sorry about that” with all the sincerity of a clam. I got my money back. Meanwhile, back at the table, Margaret, Jan and Rich had finished their lunches but thoughtfully saved some of each for me. I declined. Rich explained to me that he received his lunch first because “Memphis is closer than San Francisco “. We left.
We had arrived at Wally Fest 90 minutes early on the wrong day and yet, we got very nice gifts for family, I got three prime parking spots, we learned about a wedding venue, we almost saw a waterfall, we explored greater Hawley, saw fish in the concrete Lackawaxen River, and noted that there are a lot of teachers and students at Wallenpaupak High School that have cars. We also saw a fake coyote, and three of us had a delicious lunch. All things considered it was a good day, although, I was quite hungry. We made a note for next year, SATURDAY!
No comments:
Post a Comment