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Vendors tempt Olustee Festival visitors in variety of ways
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| Arts and crafts and food vendors will be out in force today in and around Olustee Park in downtown Lake City for the annual Olustee Battle Festival. Doug Patterson partakes of a free sample of tupelo honey Friday afternoon during the first day of the festival. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
Food, arts and crafts are a staple of festival weekend.
By JOHNNA PINHOLSTER
jpinholster@lakecityreporter.com
A peek into a festival vendor tent can mean entering a different universe in terms of purchasing commercial wares.
Wooden toys, beaded jewelry and period costumes are just a few of the items that can be purchased today at the Olustee Battle Festival in Downtown Lake City.
And then there’s the food.
Betty Blanchard’s tent has a variety of honey, pickled products and jams ready to be placed on an entree or eaten on its own.
The Olustee resident runs The Honey Company and Betty B’s, along with her husband, Jim. Her husband’s father was a beekeeper and when she joined the family 44 years ago, the bee business became part of her life.
Honey was an acquired taste for Blanchard, but once she found out the varieties of flavors and ways it could be used she was hooked, she said.
The darker honey she uses for cooking while the Tupelo honey the couple purchases out of western Florida can be used in hot tea.
While recuperating from a car accident, Blanchard began to make jams and jellies, as well as pickling. She used recipes passed down from her grandmother and grandmother-in-law.
“And I have honey jelly, which is the best of both worlds,” Blanchard said.
The jelly is made using a combination of honey, sugar, corn syrup, water, pectin and lemon juice, Blanchard said.
If people ask for a certain item that Blanchard doesn’t have at her booth, she immediately starts formulating a plan.
“I tell them, next time our paths meet, I’ll have it,” Blanchard said.
Blanchard said she makes her products in small batches to ensure the flavor is rich and to maintain control of the sugar levels in each batch.
While the strawberry jalapeño jam may be exotic for some, Blanchard enjoys eating the blueberry jam, either on an English muffin or straight from the jar.
Those not looking to fill their bellies, either at the festival or later at home, can also pick up items at the festival to decorate their abode.
Decorative trash cans, wooden plant baskets and candles are also available for purchase.
One vendor is selling a candle that claims to improve health.
Bob and Connie Rode make salt lamps with Himalayan salt crystals that will improve your health and freshen your home, Bob Rode said.
The salt kills bacteria and when heated up — by way of a chandelier light bulb placed in the middle — neutralizes odors in the air.
Rode said the lamp can provide relief from sinus problems and allergies, enhance the immune system and increase concentration.
He purchased a salt lamp and began using it to get rid of migraines and has been healthier for it, Rode said.
“Instead of having to go to Salzburg, Poland or Germany —to a spa — I have brought the salt here,” Rode said.
Lamp sizes come in small, medium and large, with the smallest being most productive in a 10-foot by 10-foot room and the largest accommodating a 20-foot by 20-foot room.
Rode tells customers to leave the lamp on 24 hours a day because the heat on the salt is what makes the crystals work.
“They will last forever as long as you don’t get them wet,” Rode said.
Wooden toys, beaded jewelry and period costumes are just a few of the items that can be purchased today at the Olustee Battle Festival in Downtown Lake City.
And then there’s the food.
Betty Blanchard’s tent has a variety of honey, pickled products and jams ready to be placed on an entree or eaten on its own.
The Olustee resident runs The Honey Company and Betty B’s, along with her husband, Jim. Her husband’s father was a beekeeper and when she joined the family 44 years ago, the bee business became part of her life.
Honey was an acquired taste for Blanchard, but once she found out the varieties of flavors and ways it could be used she was hooked, she said.
The darker honey she uses for cooking while the Tupelo honey the couple purchases out of western Florida can be used in hot tea.
While recuperating from a car accident, Blanchard began to make jams and jellies, as well as pickling. She used recipes passed down from her grandmother and grandmother-in-law.
“And I have honey jelly, which is the best of both worlds,” Blanchard said.
The jelly is made using a combination of honey, sugar, corn syrup, water, pectin and lemon juice, Blanchard said.
If people ask for a certain item that Blanchard doesn’t have at her booth, she immediately starts formulating a plan.
“I tell them, next time our paths meet, I’ll have it,” Blanchard said.
Blanchard said she makes her products in small batches to ensure the flavor is rich and to maintain control of the sugar levels in each batch.
While the strawberry jalapeño jam may be exotic for some, Blanchard enjoys eating the blueberry jam, either on an English muffin or straight from the jar.
Those not looking to fill their bellies, either at the festival or later at home, can also pick up items at the festival to decorate their abode.
Decorative trash cans, wooden plant baskets and candles are also available for purchase.
One vendor is selling a candle that claims to improve health.
Bob and Connie Rode make salt lamps with Himalayan salt crystals that will improve your health and freshen your home, Bob Rode said.
The salt kills bacteria and when heated up — by way of a chandelier light bulb placed in the middle — neutralizes odors in the air.
Rode said the lamp can provide relief from sinus problems and allergies, enhance the immune system and increase concentration.
He purchased a salt lamp and began using it to get rid of migraines and has been healthier for it, Rode said.
“Instead of having to go to Salzburg, Poland or Germany —to a spa — I have brought the salt here,” Rode said.
Lamp sizes come in small, medium and large, with the smallest being most productive in a 10-foot by 10-foot room and the largest accommodating a 20-foot by 20-foot room.
Rode tells customers to leave the lamp on 24 hours a day because the heat on the salt is what makes the crystals work.
“They will last forever as long as you don’t get them wet,” Rode said.
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