Yesterday I had a day off and my girlfriend and I decided to spend a day out, just doing something different to enjoy the day. We had heard that they were having a Music & Craft Festival in Hardy, Arkansas. It was raining first thing in the morning and at first we were debating weather to go or not, but than decided to take a chance. I am glad we did. The day stayed overcast for the most part. Every once in a while the sun peeked out, but not long enough and it was a bit cool at times. Sadly due to the weather, hardly anybody had put up their craft Boothe's, which was one of the reasons I wanted to go.
First thing we decided to do, is to have some lunch at a restaurant called Words and Afterwords. In the evening they often have life entertainment with different local bands playing. It's a cute, homey kind of place and the food is absolutely yummy.
Today we decided on the Gyro's Plate, with Bagel chips and cream cheese. Doesn't that look good?
Hardy is a small and quaint town, that sprouted up from a railroad construction camp in 1884 and is nestled on the banks of the Spring River. Many houses in this area are built from the rock found here, as in the picture below.
The downtown area, pictured below, has many of the regions best antique shops and also crafts shops. I love the Murial on that building. Sadly it is fading a bit. As you can see it is not a very big town, but in the summer month chalk full of tourists.
Here are the only vendors we saw. One of them was selling jewelry and the other hand sewn items for the household, like towels and aprons and such.
Another view of the town
I just couldn't resist to take a picture of this little English car, which belongs to the restaurant it stands in front of. It's an antique Mini Cooper 1000. It reminded me of the days my mother would drive such a little car back in Germany when I was child. I think they are just to cute.
Here was the music part of the day. This little place is in the middle of town in a little plaza by itself. Every hour on the hour they had a different local band playing, mostly bluegrass. Very enjoyable. Some people even got up and danced.
The little plaza from a different angle, surrounded be pretty flowers and trees.
Another view of the town with it's lovely old buildings.
A little antique shop with lot's and lot's of different things, from furniture to old milk cans and quilts.
Another antique shop, with mostly old bath tubs, windows and such.
We decided to take a little brake under this huge porch in front of one of the stores. We just couldn't ignore the nice swing to sit on and to just look around while swinging.
Isn't that just darling? I like to see something old incorporated into a garden. And notice the metal bird on the bicycle seat. How cute is that?
On the left on this next picture is a store I love. They have handmade pottery in all shapes, sizes and color, from dishes to vases and so much more.
Just before you leave this little town in one direction, they have this little old gas station from yesteryear. This old car stands there in all it's rusty glory.
This was an actual working gas station at one time in history. How times have changed.
Before we left town to go back home, we also decided to stop at the Spring River. It looked so welcoming with the sun finally peeking out for a few minutes. In the summertime, the Spring River is a big attraction around here for people that love to spend the day canoeing, kayaking, tubing or fishing, which is something we like to do here as much as possible.
It is so much fun tubing down the river when it moves nice and fast. You just got to watch your behind at times going over rocks when the river is not high enough.
Here you can see some remnants of fishing lure in the trees. Just thought it was funny the way they were hanging there in the tree.
I thought I would also show you a picture from a road above the river, so that you could see how fast the rivers can get in certain places.
This is one of the little Bed & Breakfast places around here, nestled into the rocky mountain. I love all that iron on the porches. The house is built up high, as at times the river can rise quite a bit and many areas get flooded.
Well I hope I didn't bore you all to much with all my pictures. All in all it was a very nice afternoon out. Very relaxing and enjoyable to do something different. If you ever in this area, you should check this little charming place out. It's certainly worth it.
Now I wish you all a good Sunday, what's left of it. Until soon......
