Fiddlers’ Contest; Lancaster, NH (June 24)

Welcome to the first installment of the Ways of the Woods online journal. Several folks asked if there was a way we could keep them up-to-date on this year’s Fair & Festival season, and we thought keeping this journal was a great way to do it. Here we go…

After a successful spring tour spent traversing the Northern Forest from Watertown, New York to Fort Kent, Maine as part of the Center’s Northern Forest Days program, Ways of the Woods kicked off fair and festival season at the Stark Fiddler’ s Contest in Lancaster, NH. We were greeted by the smell of onion rings—yay for fair food!—and a perfect sunny day that gave us outstanding views of hills and mountains surrounding the 65-acre fairgrounds on the banks of the Connecticut River (fun fact: the Lancaster Fair has taken place for 136 years in succession, not closing down because wars or other crises—the community is really behind it). We got to set up right next to the entrance to the grandstand, and were just about impossible to miss. More than 300 people stopped by and spent some time at our exhibit, learning new things about the region and reflecting on their experiences here. People told us it was “Just awesome!” and “Thank you” and “This is so important.” One woman, who started out skeptical about the region’s future and how the Center’s work might help, left smiling and saying “That was really, really great. Good luck! Thank you!” after she finished her visit.

The Fiddler’s Contest is all about the fiddlin’ and this year’s performers ranged in age from 8-81, including our new friend Patrick Ross. We first met Patrick last fall in Plymouth, NH, where he showed up in chain saw chaps and fingerless gloves to play while we were set up for our final event of the season. He wowed us with his unique and incredible playing style and we were impressed to learn that he’s a fifth-generation fiddle player with deep roots in Northern New Hampshire—in other words, this guy’s the real deal. Patrick really believes in the Northern Forest and in the Center’s mission, because of this (and the fact that he’s so talented) he played at several Northern Forest Days events this spring. It was great to see him prove he really is one of the best around as he took first place in the always-impressive “Trick and Fancy” division with his gripping performance of the classic fiddle tune “Orange Blossom Special,” beating out (among others) a 12-year-old who played while riding a unicycle and holding his fiddle upside-down—impressive in its own right.

While it was fun to see Patrick strut his stuff, the most special part of the day was a story told to us by Roland, Patrick’s father’s best friend and fellow fiddler. Roland once decided to build his own fiddle, and Patrick’s father teased him and said that he would never get it done. Roland was serious about the project, though, so Patrick’s father decided that he wanted to be the one to play Roland’s pride and joy for the first time. Roland agreed. Thousands of hours of work later, as the fiddle neared completion, Patrick’s father tragically passed away, and Roland’s promise to let his best friend create its first note went unfulfilled. Fending off tears, Roland told us how he did the next best thing: he found Patrick, at the time only 11 years old and already quite talented, and let him do the honor. Patrick chose “Amazing Grace” as the fiddle’s first tune—a tune with which we saw him choke up a room full of people in Colebrook, NH, earlier this spring.

Ways of the Woods tends to draw these kinds of stories out of people because it is such a unique and inspirational exhibit. We’ll keep you posted on our travels and the stories we hear along the way here in our online journal, so please keep checking back throughout the summer. Our next stop is Fort Ticonderoga in New York on July 4. If you missed us in New Hampshire, the Lancaster Fairgrounds have the unusual distinction of being the only place we’ll visit twice this year. Catch us there again during the Fair itself Aug. 29-Sept. 2, Labor Day weekend!

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Lancaster? Please to tell us about your experience.

Ways of the Woods spent July 4th in the most appropriate Northern Forest location possible—Ticonderoga, NY. Touting its Independence Day celebration as “Best Fourth in the North,” Ticonderoga is also home to Fort Ticonderoga, site of the first American victory of the Revolutionary War, as well as the Ticonderoga Heritage Museum—our host for the day.

In addition to its importance in the founding of the United States, Ticonderoga’s history as a paper mill and pencil-producing town (think of those nice Ticonderoga pencils you used in school) seemed to contribute to a high level of engagement among exhibit visitors.

We set Ways of the Woods up behind the Heritage Museum, looking across at the balloon sellers, gamesmen, food vendors and kids’ rides. Despite the rainy weather, attendance was steady, and a couple of hundred people visited with us over the course of the day. Several visitors commented on how great it was to see their heritage promoted and celebrated as part of the July Fourth event—instead of just fireworks. One woman walked home to get her elderly father, who used to work in the paper industry in Maine, and bring him down to see the exhibit.

Carolyn, Tommy (our 3½ year old son) and I had the opportunity to spend some free time at Fort Ticonderoga. We watched the flag-raising ceremony and the fife and drum corps. A young man in period dress stepped out onto a balcony to read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the ideals upon which this nation was founded, yet listening to this reading, in this setting, was a moving reminder of the principles and spirit that not only forged a new nation with a bright future, but that continue exist across the Northern Forest region today.

—Mike

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Ticonderoga? Please to tell us about your experience.

Adirondack History Center Museum; Elizabethtown, NY (July 6-8)

The Adirondack History Center Museum was among the most beautiful places we’ve ever set up, with its shady courtyard and garden surrounded by views of the eastern High Peaks of the Adirondacks. The Museum generously contributed some of Mike’s favorite photos to the Ways of the Woods, including one of a tremendous bobsled crash that took place during the first Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1932.

Our museum visits don’t necessarily bring out huge crowds, but we like smaller events because generally everyone who visits the exhibit has made a special effort to come see it. As a result, they tend to spend a long time really becoming engaged with it by reading, playing with, and listening to everything, then telling us their own stories and asking about our work.

As people drifted over from the farmers’ market next door, we heard lots of stories from people who had been coming to Elizabethtown since they were kids and met several visitors who had just moved to the area and were interested in learning about the region. Robin, a spinner who came to demonstrate her craft to our visitors, told us how happy she was that she and her husband decided to ditch the rat race of Queens to move to the Adirondacks. That was 18 years ago, and they haven’t looked back. She advised us good-naturedly that we should “Do it now! Don’t wait until you retire to live where you want to live!” Thankfully, she was preaching to the choir (we all live quite happily in Bethel, Maine, a.k.a. “Maine’s most beautiful mountain village"), but she said it so automatically that it sounded as though she’s been telling her friends and family this for years. The second day she was there, she brought us a dozen and a half eggs laid by her hens that morning. It’s so nice to meet someone so content.

We finished off the weekend with an outstanding performance by folk duo Staber and Chasnoff from Moriah, NY. A couple dozen people turned out for some beautiful songs about the woods and mountains that Dick and Judith sang while playing mandolin and guitar. Altogether we saw over 300 people over the course of our three days there. Margaret from the Museum repeatedly invited us back for their Field Forest & Stream days in September 2009 (nothing like a little planning ahead!), which will be held in conjunction with regional celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s first explorations of the area. We were also asked to participate in the place-based education activities during Conservation Days held by the Cornell Cooperative Extension and Westport area schools next May. With such an enthusiastic audience, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of the area in coming tours!

—Jessie

From our visitor comment book:
“A wonderful and important exhibit and educational tool for the awareness of conservation and stewardship of the Northern Forest—Superb!”

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Elizabethtown? Please to tell us about your experience.

Woodsmen’s Days; Tupper Lake, NY (July 14-15)

Tupper Lake Woodsmen’s Days takes place in a huge lakeside park. Today it is expansive and beautiful, but formerly it was the site of the world’s largest sawmill. Workers who auger out holes to anchor the “trees” for the woodsmen’s events will often dig up old chains, blades, and layers of bark underneath the park’s grassy surface. The event featured the usual woodsmen’s competitions, but also showcased art in the form of a chainsaw carving contest and other impressive skills such as team greased-pole climbing—an event that needs to be seen in person to be appreciated.

Ways of Woods is full of photos of everyday life in the Northern Forest, and also features several video profiles of dyed-in-the-wool Northern Forest people. Twice in Tupper Lake, those photos and voices came to life when we met Jim McIntyre and Tom Phillips. Jim’s a retired judge from Long Lake: “Born, raised and don’t know any better,” he deadpanned. He introduced himself with “I heard I’m in here somewhere.” A large photo inside the exhibit (taken from At Home in the Northern Forest) shows Jim and his daily companions enjoying breakfast at the Long Lake Diner. “We get together every morning and try to solve the world’s problems,” he said. “If you miss a day, the guys will call you and ask, ‘Where were you this morning?’ just to see if you’re okay. You can’t get away with much.”

Tom Phillips has become a folk hero of sorts for the Ways of the Woods tour staff because he delivers, without question, the best line in the exhibit: “People come up here and look at my back yard and say, ‘Boy, you don’t know what you got.’ I work here, I live here, I pay the price for living here and you come up here for two weeks a year and say I don’t know what I got. I know what I got. I got a life, and life is good.” We talked for a while about life in the Tupper Lake and he gave us another gem. “One day, I was fishing in a new spot and came around corner to find an eagle giving itself a bath,” he said. “I put down my pole, and just became a voyeur to the wild. Me and that eagle, giving itself a bath.”

Of course, we made plenty of new friends, too—Saturday was one of our busiest days ever with almost 1000 people and altogether we met about 1350. Everywhere we’ve been in New York, people tell us we need to go to the New York State Woodsmen’s Field Days in Boonville, which is apparently a stop for the world-famous competitors. We’ll plan to go next year. The logging crowd is always a great audience. Ways of the Woods has a lot about logging past and present, and logging tends to run in the family, which means folks who log for a living naturally understand what it means to have a connection to the land. Our old photos inspire them to tell their kids, “That’s how your grandpa used to do it,” and we watch as the story we’re telling hits home.

—Gabe & Jessie

From our visitor comment book:
“Very informative and put in a way that’s not dull. Good job!”
“Thanks for being here.”

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Tupper Lake? Please to tell us about your experience.

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Lowville? Please to tell us about your experience.

Logging Museum Day; Rangeley, ME (July 28)

We had a refreshing break from fried dough, cotton candy and sausage sandwiches during Logging Museum Days in Rangeley, Maine. After rolling the truck up and over the glorious height of land between Rumford and Oquossoc, I pulled into the Rangeley Lakes Region Logging Museum just as volunteers finished burying four pots of bean-hole beans. The next morning I woke early to share coffee with the gentleman who had been tending fires under cook pots since 4:00 a.m. No vendors, no rides—just good old beans, hot dogs, salt pork, and fried peppers and onions.

For the past 27 years, the Museum has put on a traditional lumber camp feast and logging competition on the grounds of a museum that boasts a wonderful collection of logging tools and artifacts, as well as magnificent wood carvings by founder Rodney “The Mad Whittler” Richard and his father, William Richard. It’s also home to “Muscles #3,” one of first skidders ever built and the subject of a video display in Ways of the Woods — along with its inventor, Elijah “Tiger” White.

Unfortunately, around mid-afternoon a soaking thunderstorm washed away most of the 200 locals, summer folk and visitors attending the event, but not before nearly all of them visited Ways of the Woods—all offering positive feedback and thanks to the Center for bring the exhibit to town. The vice-president of the Logging Museum summed up local sentiment well. After checking out the exhibit, he emerged from the trailer and said: “I’ve got one suggestion for you…keep this right here in Rangeley!”

—Mike

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Rangeley? Please to tell us about your experience.

Northern Maine Fair; Presque Isle, ME (August 1-4)

Presque Isle was definitely one of the more, shall we say, unusual and dramatic stops we’ve ever had. Several days of ferocious heat finally broke on Friday—with black clouds, extreme winds, and earth-rattling thunder and lightning. The truck’s awning had a close call, but after we pounded its frame out of the pavement with a sledgehammer, it actually didn’t look too bad. The rest of the fairgrounds, however, were in ruins. A funnel cloud ripped through within the first few minutes of the storm, so just about every awning or tent had sustained some kind of damage. Bags of sausage buns and giant, sopping-wet pink stuffed animals lay abandoned in puddles, and chunks of the infield fence were everywhere. After a second (and thankfully less severe) storm barreled through later in the afternoon, most of the major attractions of the Fair were cancelled that day.

The scary weather had also rendered us homeless by destroying our own personal—and brand-new—tent. Needless to say, we were a bit frazzled and confused. Despite everything, though, the Fair directors never wavered in their enthusiasm, hospitality and confidence that the Fair would go on. Like all the events we attend, the Northern Maine Fair is more than just a good time. They represent long-standing traditions and pride in the community, and they only happen with an immense amount of volunteer work. And as happens wherever Ways of the Woods exhibits, the folks in Presque Isle were extremely happy to have us be a new part of their long-standing tradition. We had many educational conversations about the state of the logging and farming industries, as well as the changes the area has gone through since Loring Air Force Base closed in the 1990s. We also got plenty of requests to attend other events and meet with school kids next year, which is great because that means we’ll get to go back to visit the nice people in the biggest county east of the Mississippi.

Gabe and I ended up sleeping in an abandoned office in the agricultural display building. We plopped our air mattress on the floor, watched the news on the fuzzy TV, and slept like babies surrounded by Fair programs and prize ribbons from the 1980s. On Saturday, after another storm that was supposed to be awful turned out okay, the highlight of our day was when our Fair neighbors, B&C Ranch, stopped foot traffic right in front of us by pressure-washing their elephants. Yes, the Northern Maine Fair was a bit of a bizarre experience, but hey, that’s how good stories are made.

In less traumatic—but no less interesting—news, we had two demonstrators show us their stuff as part of our exhibit. Eldon Hanning is a Native American basket maker and Brian Theriault is an Acadian snowshoe maker whom we first met up in Fort Kent at our Northern Forest Days events in June. Eldon was originally supposed to set up with us on Friday, but since the big storm changed everyone’s plans, he came back on Saturday at the same time Brian was scheduled to be there. It turned out to be more interesting to have them there together. Brian’s display included a pack basket he had made, and his snowshoes are made with many of the same materials as the baskets both he and Eldon were making. I heard Eldon good-naturedly chiding Brian for using molds to make his baskets, but I could tell they were getting along well. As we were packing up at the end of the day, Brian took me aside to tell me that he and Eldon turned their time together into a cultural exchange of sorts. They compared techniques and checked out each other’s tools, figuring out how the other guy uses different ways of creating similar end-products. It was pretty neat to see that these two men, whom we hired to demonstrate their skills to the public, used their chance meeting to share their skills and culture with each other.

—Jessie

An additional note from Mike:

I watched as one of our visitors give the exhibit an extremely thorough examination. I always notice the people who really take the time to read everything. He was probably 35-40 years old, relatively non-descript, wearing some kind of skiing t-shirt. I tried engaging him, but he didn’t seem interested in talking. Before he left, though, I was surprised to see him stop to write in the comment book. It was a short entry, but one that really reinforced for me why Ways of the Woods is important for the Northern Forest. All he wrote was his name, and beside it this comment: “Great history. I’m welling with pride.”

—Mike

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Presque Isle? Please to tell us about your experience.

International Festival; Calais, ME (August 9-11)

Our stop in Calais was the fourth time Ways of the Woods has been to a border town and the second time we’ve been set up in a spot where you can actually see Canada, but it was the first time we’ve ever witnessed a parade walk right through the border checkpoints.

We saw about 350 people during our three days at the Downeast Heritage Museum, a new facility that showcases not only the rich history of Native American and French inhabitants of Eastern Maine, but also what it’s like to live in a land where the forest meets the sea. The Museum also serves as a visitors’ center for those just entering the U.S. I thought it was a fitting place for us because we helped serve as an introduction to the region that these travelers were about to visit.

Gabriel Frey, yet another magnificent basket maker from the Passamaquoddy tribe, drew a crowd on Saturday while he pounded on an ash log with an axe. Pounding causes the growth rings of the log to separate from each other, and from there he peels, cuts and shaves the layers until they become smooth, even “splints” from which he can finally create baskets. When you witness someone doing this, you quickly realize that making the intricately woven final product is the easy part. Gabriel’s wife, Sherri Mitchell, chatted with us and the crowd about the history—and future—of some of Gabriel’s baskets. Sherri, a Penobscot Indian, conveyed the depth of the basket making tradition when she told us how she wept when the descendants of a respected basket maker from her tribe asked Gabriel to complete a work that was left unfinished when the old master passed away. Gabriel also showed us a basket he had restored by inserting new splints over the broken ones. The pale new splints contrasted beautifully with the old, darkened wood, but most importantly, it should last for more generations to use and enjoy.

This weekend also marked the first anniversary of Ways of the Woods hitting the road. Oh, that fateful day in Medway, Maine, when it took about 10 of us about five hours to set up for the first time, back when we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! Now it takes three of us as little as an hour and 40 minutes to set up, and what we’ve gotten into is just what we’d hoped: we’ve inspired a lot of people to take pride in their Northern Forest hometowns and the way of life that exists here, we’ve encouraged those people to think of their communities and how they live as part of broader region that can work together to create positive change, and we’ve met lots of people who want to bring us to their different places and events to help us share the message that the Northern Forest does indeed have a bright future. The bonus? We’ve had a lot of fun along the way.

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Calais? Please to tell us about your experience.

State Fair; Skowhegan, ME (August 15-18)

We got several nice comments from people right off the bat in Skowhegan, including “This is the only reason we came to the Fair!” and “No doubt this is the nicest thing that’s ever been at the Fair!” That’s quite a compliment, considering that the Skowhegan State Fair proud to be is the oldest continuously running fair in North America, and third largest in the State of Maine.

I think the biggest reason people liked us and spent a lot of time with us was because there’s a lot of Skowhegan in the Ways of the Woods right now. The exhibit is designed to accommodate materials donated by community groups, and over the course of our travels we’ve gathered lots of photos for the outside kiosks and videos for the computers inside the truck. They’ve really helped flesh out the exhibit by complementing our permanent displays, and they help us show the participating towns within the context of the region. They also make great conversation starters. Laura Richter, a teacher from Skowhegan Middle School whose students gave us well-researched photo displays and videos, paid us a visit on our first day. She was thrilled to see her students’ work on display. We learned that one of our favorite photos from her students’ projects, which shows a youngish guy working during the last log drive on the Kennebec, is actually her brother. He also wrote a great song about the event, which is the soundtrack for one of the videos from her students. A reporter for the Waterville Morning Sentinel and the Kennebec Journal wrote a fantastic (front page!) article about us in Thursday’s papers and mentioned the students’ projects. The article drew lots of people who knew the kids or who just wanted to see the Skowhegan materials and Ways of the Woods. Lynn Perry, who helped the students with their projects, came on Thursday, and seeing their work displayed in our exhibit actually brought her to tears.

Altogether we saw 1700 people. We also enjoyed return visits from Rodney “The Mad Whittler” Richard from Rangeley and basket maker Gabriel Frey and his wife Sherri Mitchell, who we just met over in Calais. Rodney carved us a small bear, which we named after him, and Gabriel and Sherri gave Tommy a gorgeous kid-sized pack basket. Both gifts will be cherished for sure.

In other news, on Friday we were photographed by Down East magazine. Make sure to look for our article in the July 2008 issue!

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Skowhegan? Please to tell us about your experience.

Moose Festival; Canaan, VT (August 25)

The North Country Moose Festival is a weekend’s worth of events in three towns: Pittsburg and Colebrook, NH and Canaan, VT. Last year we went to Pittsburg and Colebrook, and everyone said, “Oh, you should go to Canaan!” We took their advice and, boy, was there action: an antique car show, a moose-calling contest, a dog show, a moose stew cook-off where we sampled five varieties (followed by snow cones because it was HOT that day), a big band and an amazing variety of craft vendors. All of this happened in just six hours and gave us our busiest day ever with about 1750 people coming through. One of those folks was U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), who stopped by at the end of the day. He complimented us on the exhibit and told us to keep up the good work. Nice!

We were pleased to see Nancee Harrigan again. Nancee is a spinner from Colebrook who also happens to be the subject of one of the video profiles inside the truck, like Tom Phillips (Gabe and I wrote about meeting him in the Tupper Lake, NY journal entry). She had a booth at the Festival where she did her spinning and had some of her work for sale. Nancee said she heard a woman say to a child, “See? She’s spinning just like that woman in the movie!” Curious, Nancee asked her what movie she was referring to. As the woman described what she had just seen in our exhibit she recognized Nancee’s bare feet, little dog and son standing behind her, just as they are in the video profile and said, “Oh, that IS you!” Nancee experienced these little moments of celebrity all day. It’s good to know we made an impact on our visitors!

Thanks also go out to Patrick Ross, our fiddling friend, who actually lives about a 2-minute walk from the site of the Canaan portion of the Moose Festival. He brought his stepfather, Gene, who learned to play the fiddle himself when he worked in lumber camps as a young man. Together they treated us to some beautiful music. Gene’s in his 70s and still working in the woods—more proof of how people and land in the Northern Forest are tied together.

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Canaan? Please to tell us about your experience.

Lancaster Fair; Lancaster, NH (August 29-September 3)

Lancaster was superlative in many ways. It was the longest event we’ve ever done: six full days. We broke our record of most people visiting Ways of the Woods in a day (set just last week at Moose Festival in Canaan) with 2000 people on Saturday. We also had the most total people attending an event with over 5100. Between the Lancaster and Canaan events, we can certainly claim most people attending events in 10 days with almost 7000. Great weather and gorgeous views of Pilot Mountain range were the icing on the cake, and even made our campsite in the parking lot pretty nice.

Two of my favorite visitors actually came one right after the other and I thought they were a funny juxtaposition.

A woman who works for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C. was drawn to us because she was surprised to see the logo for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) on the side of a tractor-trailer in northern New Hampshire. IMLS is a sister organization to NEH, the Federal organization that gave the Northern Forest Center generous grants that got Ways of the Woods on the road. She was excited to see us and said we had a very nice display, and she especially liked our “great interactive stuff.”

The very next person we talked to was a 14-year-old kid with baggy shorts and a cockeyed baseball cap who could not stop gushing about the exhibit. He exclaimed the truck is “Like ‘BAM! Here I am! Pay attention to ME!’” He was also pretty impressed when Gabe told him that he gets to drive the truck, and said, “Other truckers must want to trade you for their boring old trucks when they see you coming down the road.” The only thing these two visitors had in common is that they’re equally hard to impress, but they let us know we did just that.

Mike also observed something that touched him. One great feature of Ways of the Woods is a wall that we call “Hopes for the Future.” There are several questions posted on it, such as “What is your favorite thing about the Northern Forest?” and “What do you hope your hometown will be like in the future?” Visitors write their ideas on a magnetic leaf and stick it up for all to see. I love the wall because the collection of thoughts that end up posted at each stop give us a very interesting snapshot of the community we’re visiting. We don’t censor opinions, but we do keep an eye out for wisecracks and words that aren’t nice. That’s what Mike was half-expecting when a couple of teenagers came to the exhibit and were joking around. One of them started writing on a leaf and Mike had his eye on him. But when the kid walked away, Mike saw that he had written “I love the trees and the beautiful forest.” Amen.

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Lancaster? Please to tell us about your experience.

Lions Fair; Clinton, ME (September 6-9)

There are a lot of good reasons for us to go to the Clinton Lions’ Fair. It’s a small and homegrown country fair in a hard working Central Maine farming town, so these are our kind of people. But the more unique reason we wanted to go to Clinton is that Mike is evidently related to most of its residents, and a few of those relatives are even involved in running the Fair. We camped at Mike's great-aunt Barbie and great-uncle Glen’s house, a former dairy farm that was originally purchased by Glen’s father, Mike's great-grandfather. Over the course of the weekend, Mike met 13 relatives that he had never met before, and Tommy even got to meet some of his third cousins.

The Lions’ Fair has an attraction that’s hard to beat if you’re into the history of woods work: working Lombard log haulers. The Lombard company in Waterville, Maine, invented and built various versions of these powerful machines back in the early 1900s. They were the first vehicles designed to run with tracks, now in use on bulldozers, tanks and plenty of other vehicles worldwide. Built largely of cast iron, the oldest ones ran on steam, weighed 10-30 tons, and could haul up to a whopping 300 tons of logs out of the woods on snow. The Bretons, four brothers from North Vassalboro, Maine, took over their dad’s hobby of restoring these beasts. Lombard only made 280 machines, according to the brothers, and most of them have been long since left to rot in the woods or chopped up by scrap-metal hunters. A few of the lucky ones sit idle at logging museums. But these brothers have two of the “newer” (1920s-30s) gasoline-powered ones that actually run, and they fired them up to start off each truck and tractor pull at the fair. They’ve got a steam engine at home that’s pretty close to running, too. Seeing these things driving around is like turning on the TV to watch a Sox game and seeing Ted Williams at the bat. That’s living history right there.

World’s Fair; Tunbridge, VT (September 13-16)

The Tunbridge World’s Fair. Now that’s an intriguing name for you. Whenever we’ve mentioned that we were going to the Tunbridge World’s Fair, people in the know always mention its seedy past, when it was know for debauchery and girly shows. Those kinds of things were fairly common at many fairs back in the day, but for some reason, the legend lives on most strongly at Tunbridge even though it has cleaned up its act. People usually spoke of it with a “those-were-the-days” tone of voice, though, so I guess we missed out.

Our president, Steve Blackmer, has a family home in Tunbridge which provided relatively luxurious accommodations for those of us used to sleeping in tents and campers. The Blackmer homestead and the rest of Tunbridge are as about as Vermont as Vermont gets—winding dirt roads, cows grazing on gorgeous hillsides, old farmhouses everywhere. The nights were quite cold during our stay, causing the leaves to start turning and only adding to the Vermontness. Somehow the town managed to squeeze fairgrounds onto the hills between the main road and the North Branch of the White River, creating a terraced effect with a whole antique village on the top tier and the midway down below.

It’s no wonder we heard so much about the Tunbridge fair in our previous travels, because it was a very busy place. Eighty-six schools’ worth of kids kept us on our toes on Thursday. A teacher came to us on Sunday and said her students found Ways of the Woods to be the most interesting thing at the fair and they talked about it in school all day Friday. We fielded many requests to visit schools next year, so Carolyn should be expecting a full inbox. A handful more schools came on Friday, and the midway was jammed all weekend, even after a rainy start on Saturday. One mom told us her daughter saw the truck from afar as they were coming in and made a beeline for us—they had seen us at the Lancaster Fair and were thrilled to see us again. We saw about 2000 people, making the grand total of visitors we’ve seen since August 2006 more than 30,000. That’s a big city by Northern Forest standards, and we’re still going strong!

Festival of Traditional Crafts; St. Johnsbury, VT (September 20-22)

St. Johnsbury, being right on Route 2, is a place the Ways of the Woods team regularly drives through on our way to somewhere else. This time we were grateful to just stop in this lovely town, the unofficial capital of the Northeast Kingdom. We were in town for the 32 nd annual Festival of Traditional Crafts organized by our long-time friends at the Fairbanks Museum. Back in 1998, when the Center was little more than a bunch of good ideas, Charlie Brown and the folks at Fairbanks helped us host the Northern Forest Heritage Conference which brought together about 80 heritage and culture practitioners from across the Northern Forest to share ideas and experiences for the first time ever. Among the topics of discussion was a new idea to create a mobile museum about Northern Forest heritage and culture – and thus, Ways of the Woods was born.

St. Johnsbury marked the last time we’ll be camping this fall, and the first time since June that we’ve met with school kids. We parked on the playing fields right at the school (what other museum can do that?) for our first session on Thursday, then we moved over to the North Congregational Church Friday and Saturday for the actual Festival. The Festival features dozens of artisans demonstrating historical crafts, from apple-head dolls to wooden boat making to oxen hitching and rope twisting. One very neat feature of the Festival is that all day Friday is devoted to local school groups. Groups sign up in advance for their six 25-minute sessions during the day, and then the seventh session is a “free-for-all” when they get to visit whatever they want. Word must have spread about Ways of the Woods throughout the day because we were swamped with 40 or more kids and their chaperones during the last period.

“Can I take a picture of me standing in front of my picture in the truck?” A grinning Joanne Foster, who appears in a photo on the wall inside the truck, appeared in real life on Saturday. We said sure, if she would let us take a picture of her too! She and her husband have a dairy farm in Walden, Vermont, and they enjoyed their visit very much. They also left us with a great story: in 1976, they were vacationing near Moosehead Lake, the biggest lake in Maine and the headwaters of the mighty Kennebec River. On the shore, they noticed an unusual log – four feet long with no bark, clearly not put there by nature. They recognized it as a straggler from the last log drive, which was held earlier that year on that same stretch of water. They snatched it up and have it to this day. What a great souvenir!

Gorgeous weather plus the music of our favorite fiddler and number one groupie Patrick Ross drew about 450 people to the exhibit on Saturday. Together with school kids, teachers, and chaperones, we saw about 700 people over the course of three days. Patrick said we’ve inspired him to record a new CD, which he’ll be doing shortly. Good luck to him and thanks to everyone in St. Johnsbury who helped us be a part of a unique and cool festival.

Livermore Falls Pumpkin and Apple Festival; Livemore Falls, ME (September 29)

The Jay, Livermore, Livermore Falls Chamber of Commerce has been putting on the Apple Pumpkin Festival for 30 years or so. While in the past it had withered down to a band and a few vendors around a gazebo in town, committee members in more recent years worked hard to recruit attractions and vendors from craft fairs and local groups. That’s how Ways of the Woods came on the scene. As a result of the committee’s tremendous efforts, the Festival outgrew the gazebo and then some—we were set up on a hill overlooking a soccer field with rows of craftspeople, church and school groups, musical acts, and thousands of people who turned out for the day’s festivities. I love these small-town festivals!

The hill where we set up also overlooked a dam, and the soccer field was the site of an old sawmill (similar to our spots in Tupper Lake and Ticonderoga, NY). Our friend Nick Record and his father, Ralph, who grew up in town, came to see us and told us that Foundry Road we were parked next to is named for the former Record Foundry. His ancestors were also involved in developing the first paper mill in the area, which later became part of International Paper, whose smoke stacks were visible from our spot on the hill. We heard a lot of stories about how life working in the mills has changed over the years, ranging from old-timers who started working there while still in high school to the major strike in the 1980s to the necessary but expensive environmental upgrades that currently threaten the existence of one of the mills. It’s not an easy life, but it’s one that many families have chosen, generation after generation, all across the Northern Forest.

People responded to us very well, with comments ranging from “I think that this was really fun! I think something like this should come to my school. I think everyone would enjoy it. It’s a fun way to learn. I love hands-on learning!” from one 12-year-old to “ A big thanks to you for coming to our little festival in Livermore Falls! What a sight it was to see the mobile museum up on the embankment,” from a co-chair of the committee putting on the event. Ways of the Woods seemed to leave an impression on the townspeople as well, because we later heard via email that “The mobile museum was a hit and I am still hearing folks talk about it today here at the bank where I work.” The committee deserves its own pat on the back for revitalizing a community’s spirit, and we were happy to be a part of it.

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Livermore Falls? Please to tell us about your experience.

Sandwich Fair; Center Sandwich, NH (October 6-8)

Sandwich is located on the northern shore of Squam Lake and the southern fringe of the Northern Forest, and the Sandwich Fair is the area’s last big Columbus Day hurrah of year for “summer people” and locals alike. It was also the last fair of the season for us and pretty much the whole Northeast. We had heard great things about it and it lived up to all our expectations.

With and ideal location near one of the entrances, we broke all land-speed records for attendance: 2200 people came through on Saturday, 1800 on Sunday, and 1000 more on Monday—all that at a fair that closes at 6 p.m. A gentleman set up next to us decided to do some random counting. On Saturday he counted 119 people entering the trailer—in 15 minutes. On Sunday he counted again and came up with 136 people in 17 minutes. We could not fill the brochure racks quickly enough.

With all those people came many wonderful comments and stories. We received lots of great comments, including “WONDERFUL! This sort of work is critical for maintaining an American life worth living. Well done—fabulous outreach. Kudos!” and “I think it’s fantastic that this display was made available to the general public—it will get people thinking about the way they are connected with this natural world around them.” Even though we don’t get a chance to talk to everyone when we’re seeing thousands of people a day, it’s good to know we’re making such a strong impression.

We got a chance to catch up with Paul King, a man who has been a big supporter of the Center’s work over the years who is also a math whiz. We told him we had seen more than 30,000 people so far this season and he pointed out that that’s the equivalent of 1 out of every 50 residents of the Northern Forest. And while we know that many of the folks who visited us were “from away,” they took the time to stop by and spend some time learning more about the region. Not bad at all!

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Sandwich? Please to tell us about your experience.

Farmers Market and Woodscape Seminar; North Scituate, RI (October 13)
2007 Forestry & Wood Expo; Warwick, RI (October 14)

Our second-to-last trip of the season came at the request of some people we met at our very first stop in 2007, back when the snow was still melting in Fairlee, Vermont at the annual meeting of the New England chapter of the Society of American Foresters. Several foresters from Rhode Island saw us there and thought we’d be a good fit for the expo they were planning. Fast forward seven (seven!) months and here we are.

On Saturday we set up in North Scituate at a farmer’s market, the last of the season. The Forestry Consortium went all out with public relations, and in 3 hours we saw about 120 people who all spent a good amount of time with us. We even attracted a tour of about 45 people from a church group in Massachusetts. I gave one couple a copy of HandMade in the Northern Forest, the Center’s travel guide to artisans and galleries across the region, to help plan their honeymoon. Cross-promotion sure works!

We moved to the main event, the Energy Resources Expo in Warwick, on Sunday. The Expo was a collaboration between our hosts, the Southern New England Forest Consortium and Rhode Island’s Office of Energy Resources. The day featured dozens of seminars and vendors related to energy and forest conservation. (Did you know that Rhode Island is nearly 60% forested?) About 180 people stopped by and visited on a beautiful, blustery day.

While people at these two events didn’t always relate to the Northern Forest as strongly as our other visitors have, spending time with Ways of the Woods did raise awareness about the region and remind them of their connections with their own land. People were also very interested in how we bring our museum to people and how we work across state lines to build a stronger future for the Northern Forest as a whole. We weren’t sure what to expect on our first big trip outside the region, but it definitely was a success and we look forward to more trips outside the Northern Forest in future years.

A special thanks to our hosts, and particularly to Paul Boisvert and Marc Tremblay, for inviting us to exhibit "down south" and for working to ensure that the events were successful.

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Rhode Island? Please to tell us about your experience.

Maine Project Learning Tree 30th Anniversary; Augusta, ME (October 18-19)

Our 2007 season closed with two days of school group visits held in conjunction with Project Learning Tree’s 30 th Anniversary in Augusta, Maine, where we had a view of the state house and met with 175 enthusiastic kids from Augusta, Carmel, Monroe, and Pownal, Maine. Some came just to see us, but others made a day of it by stopping by the Maine State Museum as well. Many of the kids made it on Bangor’s Channel 5 six o’clock news when reporter Adrienne Bennett came Friday to do a piece on us!

We were also open to the public for a few hours, attracting a couple dozen state house employees and about 20 members of the Maine Tourism Commission, one of whom exclaimed “Oooh, I want one!” when she saw first saw Ways of the Woods. At the last minute we also scheduled a group of about 25 foreign exchange teachers, mostly from China, Turkey, and Thailand. They came to the U.S. for the school year and they’ve been teaching all over the Northeast; they just happened to gather in Augusta on the day we were there to learn about U.S. state government. To a person they were fascinated by the big map on our welcome wall and appreciated learning about the history of the region they were visiting.

I got into a conversation with a man from China about the work the Center is doing, explaining how we are trying to get people to build healthy communities, economies and ecosystems, and how we try to get people to work together across state lines to achieve those goals. It was a challenge to think about how to explain our work to him, since I’m used to talking to people who naturally relate to what we do. But our work must have resonated with him somehow, because he considered what I was saying, then gestured with interlocking fingers as he said, “I see, it’s about balance, and harmony!” Yes sir, it is!

Well, folks, that’s it for this 2007. We made 31 stops in five states this year. About 33,000 people, including 2000 kids in organized school groups, spent time with us. We put about 10,000 miles on the truck and many more on our cars. Throughout all that, we even had some time for some great adventures on our own, exploring the towns and landscapes of this amazing region. We’ve gone from melting snow to new leaves to stifling heat and now the leaves are down again and snow’s in the forecast. The stories we’ve told here are a small fraction of the ones we’ve heard. We’ll spend the winter planning to do it all over again next year—hopefully then we’ll hear your story too.

—Jessie

Did you visit Ways of the Woods in Augusta? Please to tell us about your experience.