Archives for September 2009

The N.C. Literary Festival was the place to be September 10-13, 2009, on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill, featuring 102 authors, including poets, crime writers, children’s authors, big names like John Grisham and R. L. Stine, and several Pulitzer-Prize winners.  The N.C. Literary Festival is held biennially and is organized and sponsored by the libraries of UNC, N.C. State, and Duke, with additional support from N.C. Central University.  The universities also take turns hosting the event.

This year’s host was UNC.  Wow, did they do a fantastic job.  While it goes without saying that the setting was beautiful, the whole event was also very well-organized, well-marked, and well-staffed by a large volunteer force.  There were even ice-filled tubs of bottled water free for the taking and, of course, plentiful recycling bins for the empties.

The 2009 Literary Festival billed itself as “a celebration of reading and writing,”  and a celebration it was.  The sessions were actually more like performances.  Authors were paired up for discussions that were engaging and entertaining, as well as educational and thought-provoking.  The  question-and-answer periods with the audience were a delightful part of the sessions, too.  Books were for sale onsite and the authors were signing books after each session.

Children had their own scene at this year’s Literary Festival.  It was easy to find kids excited about reading and writing in the special area for kids under 12, where there were tons of fun activities and many authors lined up to perform for this younger audience.  Local team mascots were roaming the venue, as well as book characters such as Clifford and at least one of the “Wild Things.”  Waving at them seems natural, doesn’t it, even when you’re not accompanied by a young child?

You could find something at the 2009 N.C. Literary Festival to make you laugh, make you cry, make you think, make your mouth water, and make your mouth hang open.  All of this, and it’s free and open to the public and will come around again in 2011.  Don’t miss it!

That’s Life in Raleigh.

The preliminary estimates for the crowds attending the 42nd Annual VFW Flea Market and Gun Show in Hillsville, VA., (pop. 2,500) Labor Day 2009 ranged from 300,000 to 500,000.  We were there.  And we may have been the only ones who went to the flea market without taking our dog either on a leash or in a baby carriage.  It sure seemed that way.

The Hillsville flea market is billed as the largest flea market east of the Mississippi, and this year had approximately 2,000 vendors.  2,000 vendors?  That’s right.  If you can imagine it, they were selling it.  Crafts, army surplus, antiques, slot machines, assault rifles, jewelry, garden flags…..you get the idea.  In need of a change purse made out of a tanned bullfrog?  You came to the right place.  They were even selling pain-relieving jewelry and over-the-counter medicine—including one booth running a special on “out-of-date medicine” for only fifty cents!  Who knew?

Not only does the flea market offer something for everyone to buy, there’s also entertainment and things to do.  There was a bounce room for children, a climbing wall, and do-it-yourself sand art.  There were infomercial product demonstrations that always drew a crowd.  And you didn’t have to walk too far between gospel singers with microphones.  I guess you’d have to include people watching in the stuff-to-do category.  Off the top of my head I can’t think of any place else where you can see the sights we saw at the flea market.  It’s worth the trip.

Oh, and the food.  Food vendors are everywhere.  The entire flea market is bathed in mouth-watering smells.  Everything smells delicious, looks delicious, and actually tastes delicious.  The food ranges from your standard hot dogs to the ever-popular chicken-on-a-stick, Thai food, and even taco in a bag.  (Sorry, I didn’t try the taco in a bag this trip, so I cannot offer an explanation.)

Mark your calendar for Labor Day 2010.  Delicious food, unique items, beautiful setting, perfect weather, good family time, Hillsville, VA, is the place to be.  The only drawback is you might come home with something you don’t quite know what to do with…..like maybe your son buys a coyote pelt to go with the coyote skull he bought last year.

That’s Life in Raleigh.