The 2017 Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Associates celebrate the 50th annual Fall Festival weekends of October 7-8 and 14-15 with 400 vendors located in 19 villages and small towns at 23 different sites in Fulton County, Illinois. Scenic Drive Fall Festival participants will find many different things to see and do from historical sites and information from Native American information to coal mining. St. David is a new site this year; it is about five miles south of Canton, Ill. Havana is one of the new areas that joined last year, and they will have vendors in the riverfront park. Astoria will also be back on the drive this year. For more information of all the participating towns, visit www.spoonriverdrive.org |
Most of the sites/areas have a mixture of antiques, flea markets, and hand-crafted items. Flea markets can be found at almost all the sites/areas. Reed Park in Farmington and Duncan Mills have mostly hand-crafted only. Vermont has a variety of crafts with other activities going on.
Avon, Breeds, Canton, Cuba, Ellisville, Farmington, Lewistown, and Teddy Bear Junction have antique and craft stores open during the drive.
Canton will host many demonstrations and displays in October for the Spoon River Drive. On the north edge of Lewistown, Marigold Meadows will also host many demonstrations. Soap making, weaving, and working horse farm demonstrations can be found in Bernadotte and Duncan Mills. Duncan Mills is on the banks of the Spoon River, and Bernadotte is in view of the dam.
Many of the sites have home-baked goods or period food. Duncan Mills is known for its homemade pies; London Mills has apple butter cooked in a kettle over an open fire; and Smithfield is known for its homemade chicken and noodles at the Red Brick School.
London Mills, Ellisville, and Dickson Mounds has a lot of history with their sites, Native America displays, and exhibit buildings. The Opera house in Ellisville celebrated their 125th anniversary in December 2016. It has the original stage that hosts a play the first weekend of the month. Pheasants Forever and Hilltop Shoppe are located off Co. HWY 2 between London Mills and 4-way stop at Co. HWY 17, and they both have a variety of shopping and food.
For more information about the drive:
309-647-8980 or www.spoonriverdrive.org