Covered Bridge Festival enjoys a day in the sun
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Autumn Harris, with South Ridge Farm of Coal Center, makes bouquets for sale Saturday during the Washington and Greene Counties’ Covered Bridge Festival at Mingo Creek County Park.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Samanth McCombs, left, and Scott Phillips, both of Washington, look at jewelry Saturday at Mingo Creek County Park.
Timing, really, isn’t everything. But on Saturday, the calendar was an ally of Washington and Greene Counties’ Covered Bridge Festival.
Balmy conditions reigned on the opening day of the two-day festival, the 48th annual celebration of covered bridges in the two southwestern most counties of Pennsylvania. That wouldn’t have been the case the previous weekend, when unrelenting heavy rain would have transformed it into a Run for Cover Bridge Festival.
“The weather is nice and there are a lot of people,” said Nicole Alexander, an artist from Monongahela whose chances of selling her wares increased incrementally with the sunshine. She was one of about 100 vendors occupying booths on the hill above Henry Bridge in Mingo Creek County Park – who attracted several thousand would-be customers.
People traffic was the only thing to exceed vehicular traffic in Nottingham Township on this idyllic afternoon. One large green space, still a little damp from drenchings a week earlier, served as a parking lot.
Those rains did have an effect on this year’s festival, forcing cancellation of events at three bridge locations: Krepps Covered Bridge, Mt. Pleasant Township; Hughes Covered Bridge, Amwell Township; and White Covered Bridge, Greene Township. But good times prevailed at the remaining seven. The events were sponsored by the tourism agencies in both counties.
In addition to art, vendors at Mingo Creek displayed crafts, clothing, figurines, T-shirts, jewelry, dog treats and more. That included a lot of food.
Diversity was another byword of the day, and it applied to more than the merchandise and munchies available. The vendors were a varied group, as were the patrons who came in a wide range of ages and sizes, in small groups or by themselves, eager to buy or satisfied to merely browse.
Alexander, who was accompanied by her mother, Lisa, displayed a number of her paintings. “I like to do realism, animals and landscapes,” she said.
Reflective of that, Alexander, 32, posted a sign on her booth describing her work – it isn’t a formal business – as “Painted Natural …” A massage therapist by trade, she studied art at California University of Pennsylvania with the hope of teaching the subject. The demand for educators, she found, isn’t great, so she works in another field while using brushes to fulfill her lifelong passion for art.
She sold three paintings in 2016, in her first Covered Bridge Festival, did not participate last year and, as of early afternoon, had not sold anything Saturday. But she was hopeful.
A few booths away, in a space larger than some others, a couple neatly displayed bracelets, serving spoons, bowls and animal figurines among their many selections. Standing out, literally, were giraffes of different sizes, the taller ones with especially long necks.
This was Kenya Craft Connection, a business owned and operated by George and Ruth Muroki, and which touts all of its items as “Handmade in Kenya – Africa.”
“We’ve been here for seven, maybe 10 years, and we have some regular customers,” George explained. “You won’t find these items in Walmart.”
The Murokis are native Kenyans who have been missionaries for 32 years. They split the year between two homes: in Africa and Brackenridge in the Allegheny Valley.
They do not have a brick-and-mortar facility and take their business on the road, participating in craft shows and school and church events. The couple sets up shop every Saturday in Market Square, downtown Pittsburgh.
Diane Demitras of Monroeville had a keen appreciation for the weather on day one. She first participated in this festival in 2004, when Hurricane Ivan wreaked havoc across the Northeast, hitting the Pittsburgh area – and Mingo Creek – especially hard. So her smile was as brilliant as the afternoon sky.
“We usually get rain on one of the two days and look at this,” she said.
Demitras makes all of her merchandise, which includes items for pets, babies and use around the home. There is no shortage of sports items either.
“I try to bring something new in every year,” said Demitras, who sells her crafts at events in the region. “The crowd is as good as it’s ever been, with people ready to buy Christmas gifts, ready to buy for themselves.”
It was a pleasant Saturday in the park.