Dunham's outdoor festival

A good time was had by all in Dunham

By M. Helmuth Starhemberg
"We are all having a wonderful time today", stated Casey Richardson of the Domaine Bresee, a local vineyard. She is one of almost two dozen local wineries represented at the 14th annual La Cle' des champs outdoor festival in Dunham. Altogerther there were more than 50 tents and over 80 exhibitors present.
Most impressive were the beautiful vineyard displays, with glittering reds, whites and rose's in well labeled bottles sparkling in the afternoon sun. All the vintners were happy to chat about their wines, the grapes used for production, their methods and their procedures which gave visitors a rare opportunity to learn about the impact that viticulture has had upon the region in the past decade. The wine producers came from Dunham, Sutton and Frelighsburg and the variety of their offerings and reasonable prices were eye opening.

Many of the estimated 20,000 visitors of the two-day event got to ride in a vintage wagon drawn by two well groomed black horses, or avail themselves of a ride on a miniature steam train if they (or their children) got overwhelmed by the displays which included every imaginable maple product, from maple butter to cider. The local apple farms and apple juice and cider makers were well represented as were three bakers. The local bakery had live music being played on its porch while nearby a young woman entertained on a harp until she was muted by approximatelt 140 vintage Harley Davidson motorcycles which paraded through the town only to be followed by a bevy of Volkswagen convertibles and vintage dune buggies.


Other artisans showed stained glass light catchers and ornaments, wooden bowls and utensils, hand crafted furniture, woven products and hand made jewelry. On the culinary side there were cheese makers, a very good (it was tasted) smoked meat seller and a juice maker who had a fine Rhubarb juice among his more traditional offerings. A lot of fun were a veriety of whirly gigs which had just enough wind to attract the attention of large amounts of kids of all ages.

It was refreshing to see that the atmosphere was congenial and full of banter as many people in this farming area all seemed to know each other and there was a lot of "How are you, have not seen you since..." to be heard as we walked the stret from one end to the other. But for us, a small commercial counterpoint to the vineyards and the large concerns represented, was a simple tiny lemonade stand in the middle on all the bedlam. Operated by a lovely young girl and her tiny dog, this made us smile all the way home.