The Snowflake Market

With over 50 vendors offering a variety of goods and services including, antiques, clothing, massage therapy, jewelry, outdoor items, seasonal gifts, ornamental metal work, leather products, glasswork, silk flowers, handcrafted furniture, and much more. 

Hours: Every Friday 3pm - 7pm.

Location: The Marlette VFW post. 

Phone: 989-635-2055

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Located 10 miles north of Bad Axe is the tiny town of Kinde.  Once a year Kinde becomes the home to the best polka music and fun in The Thumb, and I had the chance to enjoy this years Kinde Polka Festival. Running for two days, Kinde becomes polka central with music, food, drinks, dancing, and fun for everyone.

I was able to watch America's polka sweetheart, Stephanie and her band who traveled all the way from Buffalo New York and gave a rousing set of classic polka hits and new favorites.  Stephanie really got the crowd on their feet and the dance floor was filled with polka loving couples dancing to the polka sounds.  After watching Stephanie perform, I checked out the craft and food vendors and headed for the tractor pull competition. 

Watching a number of tractor pull competitors, on a perfect September afternoon, was the perfect break from almost too much polka if there is such a thing. There were just as many people enjoying the tractor pulls as there were enjoying the polka music so there was a nice diversity of entertainment to be had. So even if your not a big polka fan there is fun to be had.

Finishing off my day at the Kinde Polka Festival,  I enjoyed watching the  Ampol Aires from Chicago perform upbeat and fast polka tunes. Again the dance floor was filled with polka lovers dancing to the beat.

If your a polka music lover the Kinde Polka Festival is a must see event and you will have your polka fix satisfied for sure. Overall the Kinde Polka Festival was very entertaining and worth the trip to Kinde Michigan for a weekend of more polka music than you can handle. This was my first time at the Kinde Polka Festival and Im looking forward to next years festivities.

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 Every year on the first weekend after labor day is the annual Thumb Octagon Barn Fall Family Fun Days. Running for three days over that weekend, there was plenty of vintage farming fun for the whole family. I had never been to the Thumb Octagon Barn before, so this years open house was my first trip to the Octagon Barn.

Located in Tuscola county just south of Gagetown,  the Thumb Octagon barn is a fully restored barn that is one of only a few octagon barns in the whole country. The Thumb Octagon Barn was built in 1924 and stands today as a piece of Thumb agricultural history. This years Fall Family Fun Days was the 12th annual event and from what I understand this year was the biggest yet.

The barn was open for tours and I was able to get an upclose look at the craftmanship and construction of the octagon barn. Inside the Octagon Barn is a museum archiving the tools of agriculture from the early twentieth century. In addition to the main attraction of the Octagon barn, there were well over 100 vintage farm tractors and implements, music by the Eastern Michigan Music Makers playing classic favorites from the old days,  and acres of vendors showcasing a variety of goods. 

One of my favorite parts of the Thumb Octagon Barn Fall Family Fun Days was the demonstrations of how work was done on the farm back in those days. Ladies in period clothing showed just how hard laundry day was for women of the time, plus they even showed a bit of how soap and detergent was made on the farm. I also had the opprotunity to watch a sorguhm press in action, extracting the parts of sorguhm to make syrup.

I also enjoyed the collection of ingenious contraptions on display such as a less than handy steam powered log saw. I enjoyed the day at the Thumb Octagon Barn, and look forward to visiting again next year. If you have never visited the Octagon barn do yourself a favor and check out a part of Thumb history.

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Fall Fun In The Thumb 2007

September 2007

•  September 12th Huron City Museums Workshop Wednesdays. "How to write a family history".
• September  14th Bad Axe Farmers Market at Heisterman Street off 142 from 4pm-8pm.
• September 14th through 16th Elkton Born To Be Wild fest. Motorcycle enthusiast weekend.
• September 15th Harbor Beach Harvest Festival and Chili Cook Off in downtown Harbor Beach.
• September 15th & 16th 2nd Annual Kinde Polka Festival.
• September 19th Huron City Museums Workshop Wednesdays. "Writing Poetry".
• September 22nd & 23rd Lexington Days in downtown Lexington.
• September 28th Caseville Harvest Festival Weekends.

October 2007

• October 4th Sebewaing Moonlight Madness. Free bean soup, music, and shopping in downtown Sebewaing.
• October 4th through 7th the 27th annual Tuscola County Pumpkin Festival in Caro.
• October 6th & 7th Caseville Pumpkin Festival.
• October 25th 13th annual Vassar pumpkin roll.
• October 27th Last day of the Port Austin Farmers Market .
• October 27th Croswell Halloween March and Pumpkin Carving Contest.
• October 27th Lexington Fall Flannel Festival in downtown Lexington.
• October 31st Port Austin Halloween Parade and party.

November 2007

• November 23rd Croswell Christmas parade.

• November 24th Bad Axe Christmas parade in downtown Bad Axe.

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