Monday, March 7, 2011

Bart Township Mud Sale

Mud Sales in Lancaster County, PA
are fund-raising events for the local fire departments.
Mud sales are traditionally held 
in Amish communities in the spring
when the ground is thawing and muddy.



Thousands of Amish and 'English'
gather for these affairs
which offer a wide selection of food and auctions.





Here many have gathered for the
Pony and Horse Auction.



Buggies waiting for auction.
New they are valued at about $10,000
but were auctioning lower than that today.



Below, I can just imagine...
"When I grow up my buggy is gonna have..."


Amish Youth Volleyball was a definite highlight for these folks.



Hundreds of quilts were offered for auction as well.
I will post on that tomorrow.

All the photos from this gallery can be found here.

10 comments:

Ashley Sisk said...

That's so neat - my mom has always been fascinated by the Amish and I think it's carried down to me. Although I didn't think they liked being photographed. Either way, love it.

Anonymous said...

A fitting title :-) I've never heard of a 'Mud Sale', this is very interesting!

Stephani Cochran said...

I would love to go to one of these sales! I always thought they didn't like to be photographed either. In fact at a relief sale that we went to a couple of years ago they asked us not to. I suppose some groups are more open to that than others. ~ Thanks for sharing!

Suburban Girl said...

There is a lot of disagreement about Amish and photos. Here is something I read before going: http://www.amishcountryimages.com/Photographing.htm. But you can find anything online to support any belief about their wishes. It seems that there are also different groups among the Amish with different beliefs about being photographed.

When I went to the mud sale I took the camera and thought I would feel it out. I was thinking that this is a public place and I was not trespassing or otherwise getting in their face to get a photo. I took photos of all the sights at the sale, not just the Amish people. Not once did I feel in anyway uncomfortable using the camera. No one seemed to even give it a second glance, turn their head, or look annoyed. Had anyone given indication that I was out of line I certainly would have stopped.

There were a number of people with cameras, one even seemed to be part of the organization of the mud sale. He had a name tag and was on the roof tops getting photos. So who knows.

Maude Lynn said...

I can't wait to see the quilts!

Kathy said...

All these pictures are so good. I would love to go to Amish country. Do they actually sell mud?

Pranavam Ravikumar said...

Nice Pics..! Nice caption too.

Carletta said...

Love the shots Rebecca!
I have to find my photos of a couple of summers ago. I want to say I have a picture of a cart parked beside the fence in your first photo. As soon as I saw it it seemed so familiar. :)

Martha said...

Looks like a neat experience. I really need to get out on a FUN adventure. It is so hard with a TEEN... I love the Amish, sometimes I wish that our lives were a bit more simple!

James said...

We went on a train ride in Stasburg then had lunch in Bird-in-Hand on Saturday. That was the first time I'd heard of a "mud sale". Sadly I didn't shoot many pictures because my back was hurting too much. Seeing your nice shots makes me want to go back in the near future.