June 12…. Disappointment? 😞

Today was the day! I’ve been waiting for this all week, since seeing the sign on the side of the road when we reached the area.

The Middlefield Swiss Cheese Festival!

I LOVE Swiss cheese! Cheddar, bleu, provolone, mozzarella, american, I’ve rarely tasted a cheese I didn’t like. But Swiss is by far my favorite!

So I was excited that our visit coincided perfectly with the newly revived Swiss Cheese Festival.

The festival is an old one, being held in Middlefield OH for quite a while. Then, about 30 years ago, they stopped holding the fest, I never learned why, but this year it’s being brought back! The first time in 30 years! And I’m here for it! And such a beautiful day! The heat is gone. 75, blue sky, no humidity. I would move here for days like this.

Yea, ok, so my excitement was misplaced. 😞

Maybe they are just out of practice. Or maybe this is why they stopped doing it so long ago. It was a dud. 😢

There was an Amish meat market booth. Nice, but I’m not in the market for meat right now. Where’s the cheese? There was a lemonade stand. It’s early, not thirsty yet. Where’s the cheese? There was a tshirt booth. Okay, I got a festival tshirt. But where’s the cheese?

After navigating eight or ten different food booths (one of them did offer Swiss cheese on their burgers), I found the cheese! ONE booth, from a local cheese maker, all the way in the back, selling shwag and giving out cheese samples. AND NONE OF THEM WERE SWISS!!! WTF! Is that it?? Oh wait, there’s more booths out there around the track.

So to the track I go, hunting the elusive cheese. There’s a booth with lawn mowers. There’s a booth with portable restrooms for rent. There’s a bunch of booths wanting to sell me gutters or windows or a new roof or a patio. No cheese!

There was one Amish man selling homemade fried pies. Two dozen different flavors! So I bought a box because who doesn’t like a fried pie? But still no cheese!

That’s it. The end of the line. No more cheese. One cheese booth in the whole place and NO Swiss! If it wasn’t free to get in, I think I’d want my money back.

On the way home, I passed more Amish buggies (this area has a huge Amish presence)…

… and stopped in Burton OH to check out the maple store.

My cousin Jennie told me that maple products are a huge industry in this area, and I do like some maple syrup, so why not?

The Burton Log Cabin and Sugar Camp is in the middle of the town park in Burton OH. Maple candy, maple popcorn, maple syrup (three different kinds) and all things maple, made right there onsite (during the season). And oddly enough, the lady running the place was from Lawrenceville GA. 🤔

Ok, so it’s not Swiss cheese, but maple syrup and Amish fried pies…. Can’t call the day a total failure. 😁