the Friday Feeding; VOL. 40

It’s Fair week-end! And the store is in the center of it.

A fair in the center of town is as quintessential Canterbury as the store itself is.  Originally, like the picture above, the fair was presented by the Canterbury Farmers and Mechanics Association as a way for residents to exhibit their livestock and farmstead products, as well as to showcase their traditional craft skills such as blacksmithing, cooperage, rug weaving and needlework.  That fair continued from 1871-1883.

In the 1940’s the Ladies Benevolent Society of our town center church sponsored a series of fund raising events around a “mid summer lawn party” that evolved to include a chicken bar-b-que.  From these early beginnings the fair was reformed in 1959 to once again include traditional craft and livestock like the earlier Farmers and Mechanics fair.

Today, the fair includes all of the above with craftspeople, demonstrations, the chicken bar-b-que and the famous LBS bake sale.  Operating expenses are withheld from the proceeds with remaining funds donated to The Canterbury Fund, a fund seeded by one of our founding Canterburians, Sam Lake (who used to operate our store), to aid town folks in need and act as a loan fund.

In honor of the intent of the fair, our baking will subside this Saturday hoping you all will get your treats from the bake sale to support the cause.  The one exception is our coconut cream pie that will be in the refrigerator for Saturday and beyond. And of course, if you don’t eat outside, our coolers are full of our sandwiches, salads and meals because that is what we do. Our featured sandwich this week-end is heirloom tomato, burrata cheese, our own organic basil with a balsamic drizzle on house-made focaccia bread.

If you want to stop in and aren’t attending the fair, come to us the back way. The roads are closed off for the festivities 8AM to 4PM. See some driving instructions at the end of this post.

Many of the artisans that the store represents will have their own booth at the fair. Stop by to meet them. But many of our artisans won’t be there so you will have to stop in the store to see their wares.

Our beloved Ken Williams photographer stopped off some of his original historic photos yesterday, framed nicely to hang and remember our Shaker heritage.

G. Edward Hudson has dropped off some note cards of his paintings depicting our historic town center sights, Eric Baker has dropped off new Shaker boxes replicated authentically by hand with no machine and Lori Rollason’s sgraffito Shaker Tree of Life mugs made exclusively for us completes this theme.

We are busy busy getting ready for tomorrow so no recipe this week. Check our recipe archives by entering what you are looking for in the search button on our home page. Check back later for next weeks specials which we will add to this post and always on our front page.

Remember to come see Dave at the Farmers Market for a live made-on-the-spot pizza and some fresh squeezed lemonade. Wednesdays in the library parking lot 4-6:30pm. Consider preordering your pizza cuz there are only so many cooking slots available.

Have a great week-end and we will see ’round town!

Jane and Dave

DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE “BACK WAY” to the store:

From I93 exit 18 veer left up the hill at the fork in the road. Turn onto rt. 132 going north to Randall Road.  Turn right there to dead-end onto Old Tilton Road.  Turn right and follow that to the bend near town center making a hairpin turn left onto Lamprey Road.  At the end turn right onto Hackleboro to the backside of the store.  

From 106 Shaker Road drive towards town center and Baptist Road.  If you go all the way down, folks with direct you to parking and a shuttle will take you to the center.  If you go just as far as Baptist HILL Road, take a right there and follow to Hackleboro Road (old cemetery or the right) where you will take a left. This will lead you to the back of the store as above.