We all need a little break from….you know….stuff. Although we may want to crawl in a hole right now and never come out, we should take some time to enjoy fall, especially for the Missourians out there because it’s actually fall, not fall in summer’s clothing, or fall in the Arctic’s clothing, but it now actually feels like fall. It’s brisk, but not cold. It’s sunny, but not scorching. The leaves are falling, the trees are colorful, and if you’re like me, your pumpkins that were never carved for Halloween because of laziness make great Thanksgiving decorations. It’s a good time to get out and enjoy autumn in all its glory. We live in a small community, but there are lots of things to do locally, so these are some family fun events and date night tips to get everyone out and about, or to put on your calendar for next year. It is also my lame attempt to get my husband out of the house (he proofreads every post for things he deems too embarrassing to share, so maybe he’ll start planning, hahahaha). Maybe I’ll get a date night out of this, but either way, get out and enjoy your community! Family Fun Events Coming up this weekend, November 12th and 13th, is the Central Methodist University production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at The Little Theater in Fayette. There are two productions on Saturday, one at 1:30 P.M. and the other at 7:30 P.M., and one production on Sunday at 1:30 P.M. I know my son gets a kick out of the old school Peanuts cartoons when they start playing on the basic channels around Halloween, so I will score a big Mom win if I take him to see their production. I will save the 7:30 P.M. production for the older kids because my little man turns into a little demon after his bedtime, sooooo you’re welcome! You’re in luck if you also want to stuff yourself with the early bird turkey dinner because it’s the weekend of the St. Mary’s Fall Dinner in Glasgow. I guess I’ve gone to this my whole life. I don’t know when it started, but I just remember always being there, so I’m schooled at the event, and I promise, it’s a fun time. My son loves it! It’s this Sunday the 13th, and you should probably wear sweatpants to make room. Delicious turkey, ham, taters, gravy, cranberry sauce (from the can because I DO NOT understand why you’d do it any other way), green beans, some other thing with marshmallows and fruit that I’m too scared to try, but you might love it, and every kind of pie you can imagine. There’s also crafts and quilts, and my favorite thing growing up, Saints books. I kid you not, they were the best reading to scare the living tar out of a little Catholic girl, and I couldn’t stop. For the kids, there’s a game room, technically two game rooms, and it’s a very inexpensive way to entertain your kids for an afternoon with mini golf, a duck pond, plinko, and lots of other games. They will come home with hundreds of Oriental Trading toys that you’ll be stepping on for weeks, but they’ll love it. There’s also BINGO for the adults, but it’s pretty popular, so you’ll need to be ready to squeeze in like sardines and be able to compete with the older ladies who play ten cards at a time. It’s only a quarter a shot, so what have you got to lose. Another cool event that happens every year in Fayette is the Freddies, which is a fundraiser for the school music department. It takes place in the Fayette High School gym, only costs $3-$6 per ticket, and has a professional musician, Freddy Allen, a Central Methodist University grad, as it’s emcee. In between his performances, the locals give it their all in their own performances. You get to find out what hidden talents your neighbors have. No worries, I will not get up there and sing because we all know that’s a terrible idea. Maybe I could volunteer and perform some old school lip syncing to Vanilla Ice, along with the classic dance moves of The Running Man or The Sprinkler. I could rock that out! It’s good family fun and it’s supporting the music department, so you can feel good about your family outing as well. Of course, you can always mark your calendar for these annual events. They are good ones, so make sure you add them to next year’s fall outings. The Chestnut Festival in New Franklin, located at the Horticulture Center, hosted by the Mizzou Center for Agroforestry is held in early October. It includes educational demonstrations, music, crafts, food, and roasting chestnuts, hence the name. It’s very close to the Katy Trail too, so you could make it an all day, all family, biking marathon. Fayette Main Street usually has some fall events as well, including their Trunk or Treat event on Halloween, which was a big success this year. The streets were packed, kids were everywhere in costume, and local groups and businesses tried their best to outdo their decoration ideas. It was a FREE event too, with a bounce house, games, and lots and lots of treats. Date Night Ideas Now I’m really stretching it here, not in ideas, because there are plenty of date night ideas in this area, but the idea that I might get to go on one of these date nights in the next couple of weeks (maybe even the next couple of years) would be a dream come true, but so would eight hours of sleep or getting to eat my dinner without it getting touched or sneezed on by two little monster boys. One way to trick my husband into a date night that he didn’t expect would be to convince him to attend the Friends of Rocheport Chili/Ham and Bean Dinner and Bake Sale at the Rocheport Fire Station this Saturday, November 12th. Nothing says I love you to my husband more than beans, in any form, but mostly in all you can eat chili. It’s also a good cause, and just down the street we could attend the weekend party always happening at the Rocheport General Store. Every weekend they have live music and great food. This Saturday it happens to be Mercer and Johnson, a duo that plays traditional bluegrass music with inspiration from modern indie rock. This is also a great jump off from the Katy Trail, but I can’t even get my husband to take a walk with me down the driveway, so I don’t think biking to Rocheport is going to happen in my future. Of course, there’s always Les Bourgeois Vineyards and Winery just down the road, and if you live around here, yeah, I always sing it outloud just like the commercial in my terrible, high, slightly off pitch voice, “high on the blufftop.” It’s catchy! One other date night that I’ve been dying to try out is a trip to Blue Bell Farm. It known for weddings and events, but in the last year, they’ve been hosting farm to table dinners, holiday parties, and they’ve come up with some pretty cool ideas to bring in new guests and other local businesses. One very popular event is Vino and Vinyasa, a yoga session in their beautifully built timber frame barn followed by a wine tasting and local foods. Coming up next weekend, Saturday, November 19th at 5:30 P.M., they are hosting a Meet the Artisan Dinner featuring Aron Fisher of Facture Goods. Tickets to their events are on Eventbrite, so definitely check it out for more information. There will be a demonstration of how Aron makes a gnocchi paddle, then dinner made from local foods (a green salad, beef ragu with gnocchi of course, and chocolate stout cake with chocolate ganache), and everyone goes home with their own gnocchi paddle. I know my husband will ask, “What’s gnocchi?” and I will answer “Pasta!” in a chipper voice because he has an angry hatred of the word dumplings, not the food dumplings, as long as he doesn’t know they are dumplings. See how I have to connive and scheme to make a date night work. It’s tiring, but it will be worth it. Blue Bell Farm is just beautiful, and definitely something different than the usual dinner and a movie without having to go far. Above all else, the owners are just nice people with great modern ideas for a Century Farm, so you have to meet them! There’s always great local restaurants in the area, so try one out this weekend. The Fayette Area Community Theater has a play coming up November 18th, 19th, and 20th, so check out their page to learn more about that and upcoming productions. You could also find out more about their wine walk for next fall, a successful event that was held on October 15th and will most likely be held again because it was such a great time (and I’m not just saying that because I was in charge, I swear). No matter what, get out this weekend or the next and enjoy what we have to offer. Lots of things are always going on, so show your support for your community. Dear Husband, this means you too. Socializing is a natural part of life, and you too must participate. If you'd like to sell tickets to your own event, click here. It's a good way to add another group of visitors to your event that may check the Eventbrite website for local events. Enjoy!
Ruth
11/12/2016 08:49:25 am
bring the kids to me and hog tie John in the car --don't stop til you get where you want ---he will enjoy himself when he get there ..
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AuthorThis is my therapeutic release for all the things that annoy me about living on a farm. If I can make it humorous, I can survive it. |