Fun on the Spoon River Drive

The first two weekends in October is the time for the wonderful Spoon River Drive.  If Keith isn’t harvesting, we try to make it to the festival, which has become a must do for the two of us, like harvest, it rings in the fall.

The Spoon River Drive is in Fulton County, and like the title indicates follows along the lovely Spoon River. While Keith is out looking for treasures, I enjoy in particular the history along this drive like the artist H.K. Welch. His studio is in the town of Smithfield, in the former Smithfield State Bank. What’s fun is the bank is about the size of a small kitchen, but the art squeezed in is amazing.

In Smithfield too, there is also the little Red School house where Bill Swango has his amazing sculpture.  “I bought this school for $1.00 at an auction,” Bill said.  “The first thing we did was replace the roof.”

In the town of London Mills I had to take my annual picture of the Statue of Liberty that the Boy Scouts put up back in the 1930’s. While taking the picture, there was a whole family gathered for the Spoon River event that asked me to take a group picture.  My favorite was a little boy about the age of three that I had seen earlier in the Red School House saying “Moving Through”.

Thats just how it is on the Spoon River Drive, you “move through”from one town, one historic place, or if you are like Keith, one find to the next!