Äpplemarknaden i Kivik and a Swedish hobby farm

Generally we are not festival/fair people.  We tend to head away from crowds rather than towards them for entertainment, but this last weekend we saw a Swedish festival that we just had to check out.  Äpplemarknaden is held each fall in Kivik, a town on the southeastern coast of Sweden, to celebrate the apple harvest.  The big draw is that each year they have an artist create a huge work of art-- all out of apples.  This was something we had to see.

Poster showing previous years' apple art

We headed out early, arriving right as it opened at 10 am, because we heard it would get really crowded.  We chickened out of the huge field parking (knowing Europeans it would be very tight spaces) and parked a little ways up the coastal road instead.  It was a beautiful day and it was a nice walk along the shore. It is a very picturesque area.  We'll have to come back next summer when it is warm enough to think about water.

We were disappointed to find that they wait and do a big "unveil" so we couldn't see the apple art yet. 



We wandered around and looked at all the booths.  It was like any craft show/festival sort of thing-- lots of vendors selling arts and crafts, clothing, food items.  They did have lots of different apples you could sample.  The coolest thing we found was a tent whose interior was all decorated with apples.  There were posters of all the previous apple art and pyramids and other decorations made of apples.  On the railing were apples of all different varieties arranged by name. It looked really cool.

A smaller version of apple art.  It showed us how they do the big ones.  They build a pegboard from wood and nails and then just press the apples (or pears in this case) on.



 When it was finally time for the unveling, we gathered in the big square.  We happily managed to get ourselves situated close to the front. We knew there was supposed to be some sort of procession with a band and we couldn't figure out how that was going to happen.  The square was packed tight with people.  There was no aisle or corded off area. We started to hear the band, and looking over the heads you could see a few flags coming slowly towards us-- straight through the crowd.  As they got close, all the people around us started say "bakåt, bakåt" as we all got shoved into each other to make room for the band, led by (the kids loved this) an apple man.

The Apple Man clears the way through the crowd for the band.

This group's name translated to Youth Orchestra.  We must be missing something there!





 At last, after a too long speech by the emcee--we couldn't understand what he was saying but could tell he was trying to be funny but was not succeeding in getting many laughs-- they let down the tarp.



This year's masterpiece.  We really like the trees on the right but aren't quite sure what the big red pile on the left is supposed to be.  A tree in the foreground, a pile of apples, a pile of leaves? Hmmm...

We really like how this view shows how it really is all apples.

 

  We didn't stay long after the unveiling.  The boys had another adventure they wanted to get to. A coworker was planning to cut some lumber with his portable saw mill and announced "All are welcome. None are invited." (We love that.  We want to post it above the door to our house.) So the boys drove up to a small farm in Arkelstorp and spent the afternoon there. 

The house they visited.



The sawmill was powdered by an old tractor.



Finished product

T was wishing he'd packed more work clothes so he'd have fit in better. He didn't like looking like a city boy. :-) They enjoyed checking out the machinery.  They also got to see some motorcycles and a wood chipper made from an old "diesel lorry" (semi-truck for those who don't speak British). T enjoyed escaping city living for a while.  (When he gets "homesick" it is for his cars and garage.)

Cute chickens that reminded them of Muppets

Nice pony