Prater's Mill was this past weekend, and the weather was beautiful. We did the booth for Whitfield-Murray Historical Society ~ sold some history books and raffled off a painting. We set up in the mill. The Busy Bee Quilters raffled a quilt. The Busy Bee Raffle is a Prater's Mill tradition ~ they've raffled a quilt every year since the 1970's! They also work on quilts during the festival. This year, it was a pretty, embroidered quilt, with a design of kittens.
There were some nice crafts at Prater's Mill: wonderful hand-wrought silver-and-gemstone jewelry and some lovely handmade pocketbooks. I think the blacksmith was there ~ I had to tour quickly and get back to our booth. I didn't see as many traditional appalachian booths. They used to have people with big iron pots of boiled corn and kettle corn (popcorn). They did have some great food vendors, though, including pit-cooked Southern barbecue, funnel cakes, and Cajun jambalaya.
The fine arts didn't make much of a showing. There weren't many painters. The ones I saw were photo-realists, with Southern scenes as their subjects. One had some nice paintings of Chattanooga's Walnut Street pedestrian bridge (over the Tennessee River).
Even though we set up in the mill, I didn't get a chance to take the tour. I always enjoy it ~ I love to watch the flour and meal being ground, and look out over the millpond. I hope to go again next year, and take my time looking over the booths!
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