The rain gods seem to have agreed with me as to the undesirability of a Bellefonte arts and crafts festival, as it rained like the dickens this weekend past. I saw vendor after vendor poking at his or her tent-roof, dislodging pockets of rain-water trapped in the sagging vinyl or canvas with whatever was handy; several left early, disgusted with the low turnout. But, the rain eventually broke on Saturday, and the show must needs go on. The vendors were less rural than I expected. I mean, there were the expected Amish with their cheese and fudge displays, and there were far too many Christmas-themed vendors than should ever be seen in the steaming dog days of August (even an unseasonably cool one like this year's), but still and all, precious little in the way of cartoon cows. There was a guy with enormous wooden cartoon pigs, but no cows.

I bought a pinecone dipped in heavily scented beeswax for an air freshener for my increasingly musty apartment, and a couple Bellefonte-themed painted blocks for my mother's collection - one of the Sterling Mansion, and another of St. Pauls Episcopal Church. The lady selling them told me that blocks of the Bellefonte Academy had sold out early, and indeed, I saw one holding the place of honor in another vendor's non-painted-block-themed display. There's no novelty like destruction, I suppose.

As I walked around, eating my dinner of crab cakes and lemonade, the band in the pavilion in front of the statue of Gov. Curtin shifted from Skynard-style rock to a pretty straightforward version of "Don't Rock the Jukebox", which, I figured, was country enough for government work.