Corn Hill Arts Festival

The crowds at Corn Hill Arts Festival.

On a beautiful warm Saturday in July, Kristina joined Amy and me on a visit to the Corn Hill Arts Festival in Rochester.  This was my first visit to the very popular festival that attracts thousands of visitors each year and with the weather as beautiful as it was the place was destined to be packed.  Earlier in the week we read an article in the paper that mentioned the festival's plans to encourage alternative forms of transportation, including by bike.  In order to make it easier for people to ride their bike to the festival they were offering a manned bike coral for free.  Once we saw this and figured out a way to get a 3rd bike into our vehicle for transport to our planned starting point at Henpeck Park, we knew
this is how we would get ourselves to the festival.

RCA mans the bike coral.

We did not know where the bike coral was to be setup but it was extremely easy to find because it was setup right on the trail we were on as we approached the Corn Hill Neighborhood.  The folks from the Rochester Cycling Alliance were running the bike coral and doing an excellent job and we hope to see them do more of this in the future.

Chainsaw art.  Very cool.

The festival did indeed draw a large crowd and, with over 375 artists displaying their wares, there was plenty to see and do.  We walked walked around and looked at a variety of booths; Amy and Kristina checking out all the jewelry booths while I looked at the pictures being sold by the various photographers at the festival.
Mounted canvas was a very popular medium for displaying photos and most of the pictures being sold were breathtaking.

One picture in particular caught my eye as I was passing the artist's booth. The picture was hanging

A variety of homemade hot fudge for your Ice Cream

on the inside wall I had passed her booth and had I not looked over my shoulder I wouldn't have seen it.  It was a picture of a couple of moose in a bog with Mt. Katahdin in the background in vivid fall colors.  I turned to the photographer and said "Baxter State Park, right" and commenced to inform her that I was there 5 weeks ago and hiked the mountain.

Amy and Kristina enjoying lunch.

After being at the festival for over an hour, we decided to get some lunch.  We ate in the food court area where there were a variety of vendors offering things to eat.  Once we were done consuming the delicious food, I mentioned that I wanted to check out the Fairy Houses that were on display near the food court.  These were community created entries into a contest themed around the works of children's author, Tracy Kane.  Some of these were quite elaborate and it looked like fun projects for a young family.

One of the Fairy Houses on display.

After we were done checking out the Fairy Houses we planned our exit strategy to get ourselves back to the bike coral and commence the 11 mile ride back to the car.  It was at this time that Amy and Kristina found just the right pieces of jewelry to purchase and they were able to leave the festival having purchased something from a hard working artist.

Not part of the festival but very cool graffiti

Of course, before we could leave we needed to consume some Ice Cream and the picture I took of my lovely companions enjoying the frozen treat had to be chosen as a representative photo of the days festivities.

Becky, this one is for you!