What a weekend!

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There is a full slate of events scheduled in Granville and Whitehall. In Vermont there’s plenty going on in Fair Haven, Poultney and Pawlet.

Rick’s Ride (see related story) will thunder out of and back into Granville, Shakespeare will take center stage in Poultney and books get the spotlight in West Pawlet.

The Whitehall United Methodist Church will host one of the most eagerly anticipated and delectable events of the year, the annual ox roast, on Saturday and the Whitehall Quilt Show, with its colorful display of handmade quilts and wall hangings, will be held this weekend for the first time in three years.

In Fair Haven, the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce will hold its seventh annual Classic Auto and Bike Show on Saturday, and the following day the region’s food producers, crafters and historians will converge on the Town Green for the Farmers Market and Craft Show, as well as Local History Day.

Good eats

1970 was an eventful year. The Aswan High Dam, an engineering marvel on the Nile River in Egypt, was completed. Four people were shot and nine wounded protesting the Vietnam War on a college campus in Ohio. The Beatles decided to “Let It Be” after a decade together, and the world was introduced to something called a “floppy disk.” It was also the year the Whitehall United Methodist Church held its first ox roast.

And while the memories of some of those events have faded over the years, the ox roast remains salient more than four decades later.

This year’s event will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 28, at the church on Greenmount Cemetery Lane.

The event will include a flea market, bake shop, auction and lots of beef.

“It’s the church’s largest fundraiser and its biggest community event,” said Elaine Jones, a member of the ox roast committee.

Nearly 400 people from Whitehall and beyond — Methodists and non-Methodists alike — attend the event year each year. “This is really a community event,” said Jones.

Organizers and volunteers will arrive early on Saturday morning to kindle the flames that will cook the meat, to husk corn, prepare sides, and set out sale and auction items.

The flea market and a few other booths will open at 10 a.m., and a snack shop offering hot dogs, drinks and other food will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The main course will be served beginning at noon and besides beef, will include corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, rolls, and a huge assortment of pies and cakes.

At 1 p.m., Nicholas Deutsch will open the annual auction, giving attendees a chance to bid on antiques and gift certificates donated by local businesses.

The cost of the meal is $11 for adults and all takeouts. Children ages 5 to 11 are $5 and anyone under five eats for free. Dinner will be served until 6 p.m. or sold out.

The church is located at 56 Greenmount Cemetery Lane, just off of County Route 12 outside of the village of Whitehall.

Quilts, wall hangings, rugs

The art and craft of quilting and rug hooking will be celebrated this weekend as the Whitehall Quilt Show is held for the first time in three years.

The show, which is presented by Landmark Stitches, a group of friends bound by their love for quilting, will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29, at Whitehall High School.
The show will feature an assortment of quilts in every imaginable color and size, as well as hooked rugs and wall hangings. There will also be vendors, awards, appraisals, expert presentations and refreshments.

Organizers have invited quilters and rug hookers from throughout the region to attend the event and showcase their work.

They will be joined by several special guests. Eleanor Levie, an author and needlework and crafts editor from Philadelphia, will demonstrate how to make tote bags and at 1 p.m. will conduct a fashion show she has dubbed “Quilted Wearabouts — Strut Your Stuff.”

Also on Saturday, Kathryn Greenwold, a quilt appraiser with more than 12 years experience, will be on hand to appraise quilts and discuss the proper way to care and store them.

Sue Lawler, a rug hooker from Manchester, Vt., will display examples of her work, including some three-dimensional pieces, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jean Mead, owner of Cloud 9 Quilting, will present a trunk show lecture on her vast collection of quilts.

There will be several raffles throughout the weekend, including a beautiful handmade quilt, and anyone who comes to the show wearing something they made will win a prize.

Admission to the show is $5.

Cars, food, history

A few miles east of Whitehall, the community of Fair Haven, Vt., will welcome two annual events to the grounds of the Town Green.

On Saturday, the shine of freshly wax and chrome and the growl of a full-bodied engine will take center stage as the Vermont Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce host its annual Classic Auto and Bike Show from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The show features more than a hundred vehicles spanning the last 80 years of automotive history.

“We’ve had cars from the 1930s and ’40s up to cars that are only a few years old,” said Kerry Fowler, president of the chamber.

The show will also feature motorcycles. Last year was the first time the show was opened to bikes and Fowler said attendees can expect to see even more at this year’s event.

Unlike many car shows, the Lakes Region event is an open class show, meaning every vehicle competes for awards against every other vehicle. Judging will begin at 1 p.m. and prizes will be awarded between 2 and 3 p.m.

But the event is more than just muscle power and vehicles with fancy paint jobs.

There are also vendors, food, music, raffles, and tours of the Marble Mansion Inn.

Admission to the show is free and the street on the backside of the park will be blocked off for the automobiles on display.

The following day, on Sunday, July 29, the fourth annual Super Sunday Farmers Market and Craft Show will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Town Green.

The event will feature the dedication of the newly redone marble fence by the Fair Haven Historical Society. The organization has been renovating the fence and the project is nearing completion after four arduous years.

The historical society, the Fair Haven Methodist Church, and the West Haven Historical Society will have informative displays that explore the area’s history. There will also be an old-fashioned children’s tea party and games beginning at 1 p.m. and tours of the marble mansion from noon to 3 p.m.

Elsewhere in the park, local crafters and food producers will be offering their products for purchase.

An assortment of fruits and vegetables, maple products, local meat, cheese, jams, pickles, baked goods, and more will be available as will quilted and knitted items, jewelry, and wood products, to list just a few. Refreshments will be available throughout the day.

Admission to the event is free.

 

Lots of music

Whitehall’s Music in the Park Concert Series will present the Adirondack Fiddlers from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday,   at the 1892 bandstand in Whitehall’s Riverside Park. It’s free and open to all; bring a lawn chair or blanket.

Also in Whitehall, the Bridge Theatre will present the Matt Maguire Jazz Quartet in concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 28, at the Whitehall Armory, corner of Route 4 and Williams Street. The program will include a blend of tunes from the Great American Songbook and jazz standards.  Cost: $19; $17 senior citizens; $15 students. Information/tickets: 518-874-0800.

Sunday night is time for a free concert in Poultney. The Poultney-Granville Band will perform from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 29, at the green in East Poultney. Waltzes, marches, show tunes, blues and more will be featured. Free and open to all; bring a lawn chair or blanket.

And you, Shakespeare?

Poultney’s Shakespeare on Main Street begins its run of two plays this week.

The junior company is performing “Julius Caesar” in a modern setting with modern costumes.

The senior company is performing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” in steampunk costumes – Victorian-age dress with a mechanical flair.

Performances for “Julius Caesar” are at 2 p.m., July 28 and 29 and Aug. 4 and at 7 p.m. on Aug. 2.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be up at 7 p.m. July 27, 28 and 29 and Aug. 3 and 4 and at 2 p.m. on Aug. 5.

All shows are in the Ackley Theatre at Green Mountain College. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for students, seniors and military personnel, $5 for ages five to 13 and those under five are free.

For more information, visit www, shakespeareonmainstreet.com.

Books, books, books

For book shoppers, the Pawlet Public Library book at Mettawee School is a two-day event that offers more than 25,000 books for sale at low prices and for the benefit of the library.

For Dolores Luebke, who is in her fourth year as chairman, and for her staff, it’s already ongoing and really kicked into high gear Wednesday — three days before the sale.

“We sort books all year-round,”

Luebke said of the sale, which is celebrating its 45th year and will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 28, and from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 29. Those in line Saturday morning before opening will get free coffee.

In the year since last year’s sale, volunteers have sorted and packed in cartons more than 25,000 donated hardcover, trade and regular paperbacks, labeled by category, along with other sale items.

Luebke pointed out that this year, the sale has a particularly large number of children’s books and will devote a whole school corridor to them.

“They will be specially priced, because we want kids to be able to buy the books they want,” she said. “Some years we do not have a lot of children’s books, but this year we do, and we want to get the word out.”

Wednesday’s work involved moving the books from Circle of Healing to the school. The Oxbow 4H Shooting Club members were in charge of the big move.

Today and Friday will be devoted to getting the books out of boxes and set up for the sale. Again, Luebke welcomes volunteers for that and for the sale itself.

Sunday, after the customers have carted off their prizes, the incoming sixth-graders from Mettawee will be there for cleanup duty.

“It’s great that we get so much volunteer help, especially from the teenagers,” Luebke said.

Prices are $2 for hardcover books, $1 for trade paperbacks, and $1 for four regular paperbacks. Children’s books are $1 for hardcover books, 50 cents

for paperbacks and 25 cents for board books. Some books, such as rarities and coffee-table books, are priced higher.

One of the neat things about this sale for buyers is the sheer volume: There are so many titles that new books replace ones that are purchased, keeping the sale fresh.

Prices for this year’s special “Big, Bad Bag Sale” from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday will let browsers fill a large bag for $3, a plastic supermarket bag for $1 or cartons provided for $5.

Luebke said the sale will include the traditional bake sale and refreshments will be available as well as some big surprise raffle prizes. “We’re going to have some great food for the bake sale,” she said, pointing out there will also be a “Book Lovers’ Cafe,” along with hamburgers and hot dogs.