Spent the better part of the day doing what I love most (food and shopping) at the Fredericksburg Trade Days. There’s no other way to describe this place except as a flea-market on steroids. It boasts of 350 vendors selling everything from antiques, collectibles, furniture, and of course, there’s the food. They’re on every third week of the month and I swear, each time we go, there seem to be more food stalls than before. Having all sorts of food makes a lot of sense because being the biggest trade show in Texas, there’s literally miles of stores to cover—one needs the nourishment (deep fried Twinkies will give you enough calories to walk all the way to the moon). Oh and since there’s a biergarten (beer garden), there’s live music and dancing too. Now tell me what flea market has all that?
Dave looking at antiques of every kind. Their motto is “If you can’t find it at Trade Days…you don’t need it”Pick a good day to come.There are seven air-conditioned barns; each housing more than twenty vendors. Between barns are thousands of stand-alone stalls, all out in the sun.
This is what we came here for. The wine barrel wood-work and furnitures.
we ordered this in darker wood…because we can never have enough wine racks…
Now for the food… The main stays here are the taco stands, burger stands, and German hotdog stands. I am only featuring the quirky ones because, you know, I like weird…
Only in Texas will you find a John Deere churning out ice cream! Seriously good though. Lavander ice cream to die for.1000 degree wood burning oven imported from Italy hoisted on top of a custom built trailer built on Colorado, dragged into the very heart of Texas to make pizza for hungry shoppers like me!I’m glad someone had the zeal to do all that and had the humility to just charge $4 a slice. Absolutely delicious margherita!Next stop is a guy who sounds like my friend, Bob, because he also came from Brooklyn! Italian grab n go food with at twist.Fried ravioliItalian empanada. Had to bring all these home. I figured Beans would love it…and he did!D can’t even look at this. Fried everything. If you think deep-fried cheesecake is insane, then you obviously have not had deep fried butter yet. It is so good. Just don’t tell your cardiologist…Had some good ol’ fashioned lemonade to wash everything down. I love how they carried the lemonade theme all the way to the shape of their stall.
And now for our loot…we ordered most of the furniture so we we’re walking around almost empty handed. Well…almost…
Had to get this mermaid night light for Ginger Naples. We miss you girl! Hope you’re feeling better soon.Another night light for the puppies’ roomAnd just when I thought that the last thing I need in my life is a scented candle, I found a coffee-scented one…And for the grand purchase of the day….an animal rug!!! I have been hunting for a rug for the living room. When I saw this pattern, I needed to have it. I love it! Look how well it goes with the rest of our furniture. This animal did not die in vain…It already started raining as we bought the rug, so we scurried back to the car. Stopped by at the Herb Garden for Moscow mule and lemon basil mojito!
It’s days like these that are imperfect (it rained) yet turned out to be perfect for us. The rug was more than what we were going to spend for so it was time to call it a day anyway. Nothing beats Mother Nature in telling you it’s time to put the Amex away….
