Anybody else going ? I plan to be there Saturday, the 28th all day. Haven't been in a couple years now, like to look over the exhibits and vendors.
They had a show in Texas @HK_User but it was in February. I never knew that Mother Earth News had a show. This looks like a great event that would be worth the drive and admission. Mother Earth News Fair ** those of you in Oregon and PA, there are shows coming up later in the year.
I’ve been to the Texas one the last two years in a row. It’s been magnificent. Informative and entertaining.
I'm only about 2 hours away , but not sure I'll be able to make it. I'd really like to , I'm sure they'll have some interesting things to see , but I think I've already committed my services elsewhere.
I read the MEN every month in the mid-70s.. The 'new' version is a bit too urban for me. Part of the problem about being old is you can remember when things (or magazines) were better, much better. The 'net has just about killed all of these periodicals anyway....
They were in Houston and other Texas cities in the 80s with their alcohol powered vehicles. MEN was once a major contributor to a back to basics and self sufficiency. The "research farm" was a bright spot in their evolution as an information center. Then a divorce and greed stepped in, now you have only a shell of what it was. Yes I would go to one more, just to see if they are rehashing old news or if they are really performing a service.
I saw that you have to pay for the classes. But just going and talking to the vendors, one can gather lots of information, ideas etc.. I like Mother Earth news. They have good articles. And they have an impressive sponsor list for these fairs.
Some history - from the Wiki In 1979 editor Bruce Woods and two other employees bought the magazine from the Shuttleworths. The Eco-Village, a 600-acre (240 ha) research center, was in full swing with vast experimental gardens, houses, and energy projects. Twenty thousand people each summer took Mother Earth News seminars on everything from beekeeping to cordwood construction. A radio show shared the magazine’s philosophies on hundreds of stations nationwide and alternative fuel vehicles carrying the Mother Earth News logo criss-crossed the country. The magazine flagged somewhat with the declining popularity of the back to the land movement in the early 1980s. Eventually, it was sold to the New American Company in 1986, who redesigned it with a much slicker image and repositioned it as "The Original Country Magazine." A number of employees of Mother Earth News left the magazine at this time to start BackHome Magazine.[8] New American stopped publishing its magazines, and sold them to Sussex Publishers in 1991 The magazine survived, and grew through the late 1990s and the first half-decade of the 21st Century. Sussex Publishers in New York City owned the magazine until 2001, when it was acquired by its current owners, Ogden Publications. In 2010, the magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary. The February–March issue included articles from the magazine's previous 40 years At least the name is still about. ***** Backhome Magazine - not so much. BackHome was a magazine that was created in 1990[1] as a competitor to Mother Earth News after the latter was taken over by a major publisher (and then, ultimately, Ogden Publications). Richard Freudenberger is the co-founder of BackHome. Following the earlier, simpler, style of Mother Earth News, it became a strong competitor in the homesteading and simple living tutorial and instructional print market. The headquarters was in Flat Rock, North Carolina. It was formerly based in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The magazine was subtitled "Your Hands-On Guide To Sustainable Living". According to its website, BackHome ceased print publication in 2014. After 24 years, I suspect the editors/owners wanted to retire.
They are having a few "in depth" classes that will cost extra (over the general admission fee), but there are PLENTY of free talks/demonstrations going on every hour in multiple locations (5 or 6 if I recall) on the grounds.....so many you have to pick and choose since you can't be at all of them in the same hour. That's in addition to the vendor demo's going on continuously as well.
