Mountaineer Days and The Purple Fiddle

The crafts were limited at the Mountaineer Days celebration. There was a fellow who was doing his blacksmith craft. Judy enjoyed looking at Jo Max Jewelry that had objects made from used eating utensils.


You may recognize the lady below who exhibited a few weeks ago at the Folk Festival. She bought her succulent business from a fellow from Rock Cave. This gal now has moved the business to Napier.

I really, really have the desire to sit in one of her chairs!


After looking at the crafts and experiencing Elvis first hand, we decided to have a quick sandwich at the Purple Fiddle before continuing with the excitement.

Oh my, the Purple Fiddle has live music on the weekends and this was no exception. A bluegrass band from Key West, Florida, was gearing up to provide the entertainment. They were the Doerfel Family band. The inside of the restaurant was full of folks and extremely hot.


Judy and I opted to dine on the patio where it was much cooler. What a collection of people! There were hill people, locals, hippies, wanna-be- hippies, bluegrass pickers, bikers (both foot powered and the Harley -type), and some other strange human varieties such as us.


There was an antique wheelchair that adorned the patio. A young lady, who was experiencing the effects of too many spirits (alcohol variety), had discovered the joy of riding the chair through the crowd of people. She noticed that I had placed my walking stick down by my chair - she shouts "Put down your cane and come try this wheelchair!" I ignored this invitation. I ordered a "gourmet" grilled cheese sandwich and Judy ordered a beef wrap. The waitress said that there would be a 30 minute wait. In order that our order could be identified, we were given this jack-in-the box thingy to place on our table.



Well, the wait turned out to be much longer than the 1/2 hour estimate. The sandwiches finally arrived about an hour later. Judy and I shared the grilled cheese since the beef wrap was not edible. (Well if you were a lion, you might have had no problem in masticating the sandwich!)


Finally it was getting dark, so we moved our chairs back to the town park. Another neato people watching experience was in our future. All the types of folks that were present in the Purple Fiddle had also crowded the park. Throw in kids, 4 wheelers, skateboards, a plethora of dogs and you have another sight to behold. (Also add a mist of beer that was wafting over Front Street)

Next - The Fireworks!