Confluence Pumpkinfest 2014

Confluence Pumpkinfest

Jenn eventually made it home from her date. It lasted long enough and she seemed happy enough that we were confident it went well. Given that we’re over a month on and they’re still dating, we’re going to go with yes, things worked out pretty well. We knew she was going to come back because she wanted to join Chris and me for the Confluence Pumpkinfest.

We’d never been here before but had heard about the festival the week previous while we were at the Preston County Buckwheat Festival. Never ones to poo-poo a gyro, deep-fried snack foods, and other obesity-inducing snacks we were all in favor. Besides, we had been wanting to actually stop in and check out the town for some time, as until now it had just been a cute little bit of eye-candy on the back road to Somerset (which is part of the no-interstate route to State College from Morgantown).

Parking wasn’t too bad. We were able to park for free along the perimeter of a municipal park and walk about a quarter mile to the town square, which is where most of the vendors were. Unlike the Preston County Buckwheat Festival, which seemed very cohesive and had lots of signs pointing folks toward the different attractions, we had a difficult time way finding. Ultimately, we figured out where the vendors and the entertainment tent were, then accidentally came across a square dancing demonstration in the middle of a closed street.

The food vendors were top-notch. We were particularly inspired to come out because we heard they had a lamb vendor, Country Lane Lambs, who did lamb burgers but also had information on buying lamb products (e.g. ground lamb, which would go wonderfully with my homemade tzatziki sauce). My lamb burger was epic. Chris ended up at a different vendor where he ate one gyro and then had to return for another.

Though one thing seemed to be sorely lacking: there weren’t a lot of pumpkins around. Jenn was so disappointed. It turns out she’s got a pretty severe pumpkin addiction and she wasn’t getting her fix. After taking one more pass through the vendors she spotted a woman selling homemade pumpkin rolls, however. That was the ticket. She carried the log of deliciousness with pride.

But not being able to figure out when and where the rest of the festival was (if there even was more), we instead headed back to the car to find some geocaches along the National Road. On such a fine autumn day, there was nothing better.

We visited the Petersburg Toll House and saw the 16-mile long Youghiogheny Lake. Though it was the first weekend in October, the bite to the air in the Laurel Highlands was a hint of the cooler weather to come.