Yoder Heritage Day

Saturday was Yoder Heritage Day. A big day in a very small town. Yoder is a settlement of Amish people. Many (probably most) of them drive horse and buggies and are very conservative. Some still do not have electricity. They have a very simple, pure lifestyle.

But once a year they have Yoder Heritage Day. And it's LARGE!!!! The estimate this year that I heard was that there would be over 7,000 people in Yoder. That's about 6,300 more than they usually have.

People come from miles around to set up tents and booths to sell their wares. I attended last year and had a booth right about in the middle of things....and it was good!

This year my booth was third from the end..with no one across from me even. A lot of people kind of looked down that way, decided they were at the end, and turned and went back the other way.

First two pictures show what the pathway looked like going toward Main street, and the third picture is the other direction. Big difference.

However....you won't hear me complaining...as I did nearly 40% better than I did last year even!!!! Great day!!! For a community who main residents sport long dresses and high collars and bonnets, they certainly brought in the people who like sterling silver jewelry!

The crowd was great, the temperatures were perfect, and the wind was "do-able." It could have been a little less windy, but it really wasn't bad at all. It was the first time out for my new E-Z Up canopy, and it withstood the breezes and did very well.

My neighbor to the west of me was selling Joe's Special Blend. A spice blend made originally as a rub for meats, but you can virtually put it on anything. I listened for a couple of hours and all I could think was, "I have to go home and cook something....ribs, steaks, chicken, turkey, pork chops...." Then he started talking about putting it on sliced potatoes and putting them either in the oven or on the grill....and he went on to zucchini in butter sauce with this spice combo on it. Yeah...I bought a bottle. It's WONDERFUL!!!! So far I haven't even cooked with it...but I've used it like pepper (only heavier)(his mantra was "the more the better") on a deli turkey sandwich and even on some potato salad. Did I mention it's WONDERFUL!!!! Joe said he wasn't a salesman, just a "griller".....but listen to him for 10 minutes and you realize he's a great salesman....and/or his product is so good that it just sells itself.

The technique he used was something like this: Potential buyer approaches tent. Joe hands potential buyer the "sample" jar and suggests he smells/tastes it. PB does just that....and as the flavor began to melt into his taste buds, his right hand automatically began to reach for his wallet! Gotta have it!!! Joe's goal was to sell 50 bottles that day. By 4pm he had only one bottle left! Plus he was also selling his own cookbook and some really cute aprons! So...if you run into Joe from El Dorado selling Joe's Special Blend, check it out. It's WONDERFUL!!!!

All in all, a great day all the way around. Lots of fun, interesting people at these events and I absolutely love attending them. The negative people are few and far between and usually I find you get back what you put out there. (The only one that really bugged me was the woman who said, "Who does she think she's kidding?".....and...not to her face...but to her fat ass, I said, "You, Lardo! Mooooooooo") All in all, a fun, fun day...and profitable too!!! What more can you ask for? Count your blessings!!!!