Mount Dora Corn Festival

Posted on by Thor

After teaching virtual classes on Saturday, I packed my art bag and drove over to the Mount Dora Corn Festival. Zellwood used to host a corn festival each year but that festival went the way of the Dodo Bird.

This was the second annual corn festival in Mount Dora. It was held in Elizabeth Evans Park (100 N Donnelly St, Mt Dora, FL) which is right by the historic Lakeside Inn.

The police had the road blocked leading into the park. According to the online site, the festival cost $8.35 to get in. However it was late in the day and the admissions gate was wide open.  Another factor to the free admission might have been the fact that the sky had turned a dark grey and a thunderstorm was brewing on the horizon.

The wind kicked in making my sketch pages flutter. I clamped a pen to the corner of the sketchbook to try and keep the chaotic fluttering to a minimum. Vendors were quickly taking down tents and packing up their wares. A policeman got a case of canned drinks from a vendor.

Rather than explore the whole festival, I decided to immediately sit and sketch an 8 foot high fiberglass ear of corn and a scarecrow which was on hand to allow for selfies. Every couple of minutes people would pose beside the scarecrow. On the drive over I had thought that I should take my umbrella to the festival. However when I left the car and started walking I forgot the umbrella. The sketch is rather panicked since I was in a race against the impending storm. I didn’t want the watercolor to get drenched and I didn’t want to get drenched. I could have spent more time on the sketch, but I packed up my art bag and started hiking back to my car which was about 10 blocks away. I smelled ozone in the air.

On the last block of my hike the first large rain drops stared to fall sporadically. When I got inside they splashed on the windshield. On the drive back to the studio the sky’s opened up in a deluge. I felt victorious, I had the sketch and I had beat mother nature. Than night I boiled several ears of corn from Bountiful Farms to celebrate.

Bountiful Bistro

Posted on by Thor

On my birthday, I decided to treat myself to a sketch and brunch at Bountiful Bistro (27314 County Rd 33, Okahumpka, FL). The week before I had driven in the driveway and saw that there was a field of sunflowers. I vowed to come back to sketch the sunflowers.

Wend I drove onto the Bountiful Farms, this sign pointed me to park at the second fence. The first fence was for people shopping in the Bountiful Market which is what I decided to sketch. There didn’t seem to be as many sunflowers as I had remembered and they were off in the distance.

The bountiful market has a simple lean-to design with a carport entrance. Baskets were stacked on a post. Though the website said the Bistro opened at 9am, it really doesn’t open until 11am. I had plenty of time to sketch. I sat in the shade of a giant live oak which is where Bistro patron sit.

I finished the sketch and the Bistro still wasn’t open, so I went to shop in the market. I got tomatoes and ears of corn. When I piled by produce on the counter, one of the tomatoes fell to the floor. When ringing up my purchase the cashier noticed that one of my tomatoes was bruised and cut. I confessed that it had fallen. She gave me another tomato at no charge. I’m not used to such kindness. I realize now that the stack of baskets were not for display but are to be used to hold produce as you shop. Next time I will shop like a civilized person rather than as a neanderthal.

I was the first person to sit down at the Bistro. I ordered a delicious and fresh cold pressed fruit drink. The dink had Orange, Lemon, Cantaloupe, Ginger and carrot. It was a healthy and delicious way to start my birthday brunch. I ordered the Red Snapper Sandwich which had light crispy old bay seasoned green banana battered red snapper. Served on a brioche bun, with lettuce, pickled onions, tomato, and creamy tartar sauce. It was so delicious.

The Bountiful Bistro is a real Lake County gem. I know I will return at least once a month for fresh produce and I will want to sample more of the items on the Bistro menu. Now I know to show up closer to 11am which is wen the bistro opens.

Porsche Road Rats Rally

Posted on by Thor

An artist friend suggested we go to sketch a Porsche Road Rats Rally going at Bountiful Farms (27314 County Road 33, Okahumpka, FL). The event was almost over, so we had to rush to get there. I reasoned that men would still be talking about their fancy engines, and chrome with hoods open long after the closing time for the event.

In part, I was right. There is a small outdoor cafe called Bountiful’s Bestro, under a giant 300 year old live oak on the property. The outdoor seating was crowded, presumably full of Porsche owners bragging about their cars speed and many modifications. My ex wife used to drive a Porsche so I know that speed is everything. My artist friend set up near her car to sketch the cafe and huge tree, and I wandered over to sketch the Porches parked on the grass parking lot.

As I sketched, car owner after car owner walked to their car and drove off. A distant Porsche had the car owner come out and open the hood. He showed his engine to a friend. I had to stop sketching when it started to rain. At that point every car owner rushed over and drove off. I went back to find Stella and she was still sketching. We decided to head over to a small fresh market where we brought some produce. I wanted to get some cucumbers since I had recently picked some in a field nearby. The woman behind the counter explained that cucumbers were out of season, which I suppose was true since the crop was now in supermarkets rather than in the fields. There is a weekend farmers market that happens on Bountiful Farms and my friend discussed the possibility of having art for sale at the market. I will have to return to sketch that farmers market some weekend.

By the time we left the fresh market it had stopped raining. We then had a fantastic soup and grilled cheese sandwich lunch under the gorgeous live oak. We had the place to ourselves. The waitress kept offering us free Cokes since we were creating art, but in the end we paid. Despite the brief rain, it was a great outing. We both wished we had spent more time sketching, but it is the experience that counts not how polished the sketch looks. My friend’s sketch of the Bistro and live oak is really good and could easily be finished some weekend. My sketch, as usual is a panicked mess.