What's a Family To Do on the Weekends in March?


What’s a family to do?
If you live in Northeastern Ohio, the answer is plenty!

With three children of varied ages and genders, I’m always on the lookout for something we’ll all enjoy.
The Quilt show and Maple Sugaring demo's are two of the things we like doing as a family. 

You might be wondering how we make the Quilt Show at Lake Metro Farmparks a success for everyone. 

Well first a little history about my initial introduction to the quilt show. 

I attended the show alone the first year and I enjoyed every aspect of it, and I’m not even a quilter! But, I can appreciate art, and the Quilt Show is full of that! It’s an array of talent, vision and creativity combined with hard work, that anyone can be in awe of.

My next year I went to the show and I took my children. At first they weren’t super impressed with our destination, and hardly thought that they’d enjoy the trip. But let me tell you, once I got them in, it was tough to get them out. They, like me, were surprised to see so many quilts, in different sizes, colors and themes, done by people of all ages and genders.

We ended up spending several minutes looking at each quilt, studying the numerous pieces of fabric that it must have taken to make each one.

The quilts all had the brief notes attached to them which described the quilter’s inspiration in making it.

To make it interactive, we set a goal of finding our favorite one before the end of the trip. Believe me, this is not easy, they’re all so remarkable. 

Then we spent time talking about why it was our favorite. (It usually took more than one pass around the exhibit to pick just one.)

Bountiful by Carol Taylor (As pictured on LMFPWebsite)
We are going again this year. The exhibit runs until March 23rd.

Now another family outing we always enjoyed was attending our local maple sugar house for demonstrations every March. Back home in Northeastern Connecticut, we were lucky enough to live just five minutes away and so when we moved to Northeastern Ohio in 2007, it was a pleasure to know that we would again live close to a maple sugar house.

There’s something about viewing a real demonstration of a food, or product, being made. Something about it always captures our attention and we learn a bit more every time we watch. We also learn how the weather changes each year play such a large role in the success of the maple sugaring process. Nothing about the visit gets old.

So if you are looking for something to do during the last couple weeks of winter, make it a point to take the family to Lake Metro Farmparks and see the 20th Annual Quilt Show Exhibit and the Maple Sugaring Demonstration.

You won’t be disappointed.

The info is below to help you plan your trip. Don’t forget to bring your curiosity and your camera!
And by the way, just because it’s cold outside, don’t think the animals wouldn’t like you to stop by and say hi! They enjoy the company!

Quilt Show
 http://www.lakemetroparks.com/programs/quilts2011.shtml#Home
Location:
Lake Metroparks Farmpark
8800 Chardon Road
Kirtland, OH US 44094
 (440) 256-2122

Description:
Over 200 quilted works in a judged quilt show. Vote for your favorites in the people's choice awards, enjoy all of Farmpark's daily activities, visit the quaint Gift Shop and browse the beautiful quilts. 

Maple Sugaring
(Also at Lake Metroparks Farmpark)
The biggest weekend for this is March 12-13th but there is still time to check it out!
Activities and a pancake breakfast will run on March 19 & 20th as well.
http://www.lakemetroparks.com/programs/maplesugaringweekend.shtml#Top

Enjoy your family time!


Truly,
Amber


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