We have had such a good late winter-early spring in northern Indiana we almost have to pinch ourselves to see if it is real!

We started Shipshewana and opened Poor Ol’ George’s™ Fun Spot with hundreds of new attractions including an Indiana wall of fame (there are tons of famous people from Indiana), a patriotic wall and lots of new photo props. You can come in and take your picture with Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in the world according to Guiness Book of world records. Poke your heads thru holes and you are in the American Gothic Painting! Or another one to become a Rock Star!! And many more “”pitcher takin’ opportunities”

We added a music center with a set of “Poor Man's Drums” made out of tin cans and plastic containers. The kids can play them until their Mom says STOP! (You big kids can play too!) There is a tribute to Delta Blues Legends, a Grateful Dead tribute, a Jimi Hendrix Guitar and hanging on the wall are funny guitars… like a pineapple guitar, a guit-TIRE and a bedpan guitar! You gotta see ‘em!

If you want a fun vacation this year, head up north to Shipshewana, IN. any Tuesday or Wednesday. This is a quaint little Amish town of 500 people during a normal week but explodes to over 10,000 visitors daily when the flea market of over 900 dealers comes to town every Tues. and Wed. for the summer. We have plenty of motel rooms, the great Blue Gate Restaurant and even a Water Park up here!!!

We are getting ready for the DAY IN THE COUNTRY SHOW in MOREHEAD, KY on Saturday June 2nd. This is the show that famed Kentucky carver Minnie Adkins started at her farm many years ago. The show is now at the Kentucky Folk Art Center at 102 West First Street in Morehead at Morehead State University. If you are close or planning a fun trip soon…this should be it! Our good friend Minnie will be there, with many other carvers and folk artists that Minnie has mentored and encouraged through the years. She has won many awards for her efforts to promote folk art.

Minnie was the 1992 recipient of the inaugural Jane Morton Norton Award given by the Norton Center for the Arts for achievement in advancing the arts in Kentucky. She has also received the Award of Distinction from the Folk Art Society of America in 1993 and the Appalachian Treasure Award in 1994. In 1998, she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Morehead State University

Adkins' work has been featured in many museum and gallery exhibitions. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Ky.; the Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University; the Huntington Museum of Art, W.V.; and the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles. Her carvings are also in the collections of Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Streisand....we also have several possum carvings by Minnie.

Walk around the fair and you will also find decorated walking sticks, stone carvings, assemblages made from junk and other found materials, as well as a fantastic selection of wood carvings, of all subjects, shapes and sizes. This year, some of the nation’s most creative folk artists will be driving in to participate in the event in Morehead from more than ten different states.

Here’s a small sample of names that may be there along with Minnie: George Borum, Ronald Cooper, Earl Gray, Chris Hubbard, Tim Lewis, Peter Loose, Lonnie Money, Twyla Money, Jim Gary Phillips, Cher Shaffer, Guy & Dollie Skaggs, Joyce Skaggs, Bonita Skaggs-Parsons, Joel Pinkerton and LaVon Van Williams “Mr Basketball” from the University of Kentucky.

Hope to see you all in my home state of Kentucky but if you can’t make it, keep checking out our blog and we’ll let you know where we’ll be and where you can find some really great folk art!