Carbondale Mountain Fair - Day 2

With the Carbondale Mountain Fair now in full swing, I decided to visit again. All the vendor booths were open by 10 this morning; the weather was beautiful - clear, calm, and about 70. A run race had just finished and a fly casting contest was underway. After awhile, a band began to play and it looked like it was going to be a festive day. As the day heated up, I had a glass of hibiscus juice from the Mango Man vendor - very good! He also sold peeled mangos on a stick which were cut in such a way that one could bite off large chunks of mango; kinda like a caramel apple without the caramel:)

The pie judging contest was delayed so I didn't hang around to see who one and it became obvious there was no chance of getting a slice; however, I did take photos (see below). When I was a kid (actually until I was in my 30s), I was allergic to chocolate so for my birthdays, my Mom always made a pie for me (instead of the chocolate cake my siblings always got for theirs).  On holidays (e.g., Halloween, Easter, etc.) my siblings split the chocolate candy I received while I ate the pie my Mom would bake; always thought I got the better of the deal:) I'm no longer allergic to chocolate and have been making up for lost time by eating dark chocolate whenever I can. I've also sampled a lot of pie during my years of traveling; even today, as I travel in my AS, the two things I look for in any town I visit are a bakery (for bread and pie) and an ice cream shop. Luckily, I never developed the talent or patience to excel at pie baking (otherwise I'd be twice my weight); however, my sister learned how to bake pie from Mom and bakes wonderful cherry, apple, lemon meringue, and key lime pies.

Overall, a very nice Fair!

Can you guess that Carbondale is bike friendly:)

Met Peter, owner of Precision Peaks. He uses USGS elevational data, a computer, and a router to create wood (from beetle-killed pine) carvings of mountains and other topographic features; he had most of Colorado's 14ers on display.

A computer generated carving of Longs Peak!

Didn't catch the name of this vendor but he creates beautiful crystalline pottery. He lost his job in 2008 and took the next two years to learn how to make pottery; quite an accomplishment in a short time span!

This setting downtown struck me as beautiful; there is an art gallery to the left and art displayed in the foreground.

For a small town, Carbondale has an abundance of art displayed throughout town.

My favorite (strawberry-rhubarb) pie was one of the contestents.

A robust looking fruit-filled pie.

Fruit-filled pie!

Was surprised to see that none of pies had ornate crust toppings.

Some type of almond pie; new to me, maybe it will win for originality.

I think this is a French silk pie.