Mud Sales

It was a chilly Spring morning and we had plans for an new adventure. We were babysitting and needed to find an interesting place to go.
I had our boots lined up, packed some water and a pack of Ritz crackers and off we went.

With a map in hand and Tina's two boys Christopher and Brandon, we headed to Lancaster for our first ever "Mud Sale"

Sometime last year I read about Mud Sales held in the Springtime in Lancaster. These sales were an all day affair beginning around 8:30 AM. They are held each Saturday at a different location and sponsored by the local fire companies.

We traveled the back roads to Lancaster, it was a beautiful ride through the rolling hills and farmland. The horizon was dotted with silos and cows grazing. The kids called out every time they saw animals, shouting, cows! horses! chickens!  They love being in the country.

As we arrived we saw hundreds of cars parked on the shoulder and people walking along the country roads. We followed the crowds, and crowds there were.  A sea of straw hats greeted us as we made our way towards the action, we had our boots on and we walked along past the buses picking up the locals from out of the way parking lots, past little Amish boys pulling wagons filled with antiques, past the farm house and around the buggies that dot the countryside.

As we crossed the bridge and gazed below we were amazed at the sight!

The fields were full of Amish men, women and children. There were tents housing small auctions, flat farm wagons with men standing and auctioning off small farm equipment, there was a coral surrounded by hundreds of people, in the center was a ring~ horses were being led around and around as an auctioneer called out prices in a loud melodious sing-song voice. These horses were magnificent, some fully dressed in tack, chrome gleaming in the mid morning sun, they looked like they just stepped out of a Budweiser commercial, others were small ponies going for as low as $50!!!

We walked further in the very muddy field and came upon a row of at least 100 buggies, some new, others gently used, all for sale.
There were tents housing small auctions~furniture, quilts, lumber, antiques, farm equipment, lawn mowers, clothes, birdhouses, antique toys. My head was on a swivel!!!!

There was food, wonderful, simple Lancaster county farm fare. There was a milk wagon serving fresh milk, chocolate milk, raw milk. Anything you can imagine was for sale.

This colorful scene was one I won't forget. Our boots covered in mud we walked among the Amish and Mennonite, smiling broadly at everyone we saw.
We can't wait to go to another mud sale, it was so much fun and so very interesting!

The kids were tired and hungry so we headed to their favorite place! Shady Maple for a smorgasbord fit for a king! I bought them Amish Straw hats and they were Amish for a day!