What To Do: Get out there! It’s Memorial Day Weekend

Don’t plan to stay in — outdoor events and great weather highlight holiday weekend

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

If it’s Memorial Day Weekend in the Brandywine Valley, it’s time once again for the Brandywine River Museum Antiques Show and Sale. The popular annual event is celebrating its 44th anniversary this year.

The show, which runs from May 23-25 at the Brandywine River Museum (Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford, 610-388-2700, www.brandywinemuseum.org), offers antique collectors — and anyone just interested in looking at vintage collectibles — an attractive destination for the holiday weekend.

The annual show will feature more than 30 top-flight antiques dealers from all over America displaying and selling their wares. Some of the featured exhibitors are Priscilla Boyd Angelos, Mark & Marjorie Allen Antiques, Roger D. Winter Ltd., Brennan & Mouilleseaux, Dubey’s Art & Antiques, Leather Bucket and Margaret Johnson Sutor Antiques.

Visitors to this weekend’s event at the museum will be able to select from a huge array of fine antiques including quilts, glass, ceramics, folk art, American and English furniture, Oriental and European porcelain, metalware, rugs and other fine collectibles.

A special feature each year is a program of booth talks by antiques dealers on Sunday and Monday.

There will be four half-hour talks on Sunday — “Miniature Portraits and Silhouettes,” “Artifacts of Conflicts: 18th & 19th century Militaria,” “Acceptable Restoration on American Furniture” and “Homage to the Splendor of American Folk Art.” The talks on Monday will be“Canary, Not a Bird!,” “American Furniture: Yesterday & Tomorrow,” “Trade Secrets” and “A Survey of Oriental Rugs.”

There will be a special “Breakfast and Tour” event on May 23 at 9 a.m. Show curator Amanda C. Burdan will give her presentation at 9:30 a.m. The price of the breakfast and presentation, which includes admission to the Antiques Show, is $30 per person.

Show hours are from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. both days. Admission is $18 per day and a three-day pass is $45 per person.

When it comes to longevity, there is not an annual event anywhere in the area that can come close to the Devon Horse Show (Lancaster Avenue, Devon, 610-688-2554, www.devonhorseshow.org).

This year’s event, which is running now through May 31, is the 119th Annual Devon Horse Show and Country Fair

The event is always special. More than just another annual equestrian event, it is a family event that spans generations and traditionally marks the start of summer. It is a place where attendees go as much to see and be seen as to watch horses compete — a sporting event and a tradition-based social event.

The Devon Horse Show began in 1896 as a one-day show with 28 classes. By 1914, it had grown immensely and had become the largest outdoor horse show in the country — a distinction it still holds. In 1919, it was decided that a “Country Fair” should be held in conjunction with the horse show and that the event should benefit Bryn Mawr Hospital.

In 2010, the Devon Horse Show became just the fourth American horse show to be honored with the designation as a USEF Heritage Competition. This award is reserved for those competitions that have been in existence for more than a quarter century, promoted and grown the equestrian sport, and made a contribution to the community outside the gates of the horse show by achieving, maintaining and promoting the equestrian ideals of sportsmanship and competition.

More than 3,000 horses are entered in the Devon Horse Show in over 30 divisions and more than 200 classes with prize money totaling over a quarter of a million dollars. The equestrian competition reaches its peak the final few days with the Devon Grand Prix and the Idle Dice Open Jumper Stake.

The Country Fair offers concessions featuring lemon sticks, cotton candy and buckets of fudge. Other main attractions at the fair are the a garden café, sales booths featuring antiques, toys, hand-crafted items, Devon Horse Show souvenirs and over 30 other shops with jewelry, art, clothes and equestrian-related items.

Another popular family attraction is the Midway with its huge ferris wheel, old-time carousel and wide array of amusement rides and games — plus kid-favorite goodies such as popcorn, cotton candy and funnel cake.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children (under 12) and seniors (over 65).

Warm weather provides an ideal environment for sipping wine while listening to live music in a pleasant outdoor setting. Not surprisingly,several area wineries put the two activities together for special events on Memorial Day Weekend.

The Chaddsford Winery (632 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford, 610-388-6221, www.chaddsford.com) is hosting its Memorial Day Beach Bash now through May 25.

On May 22, there will be a conceret by the Celtic Rock groupThe Fair Trade and food offerings from Bees Knees Grill. The $15 admission includes one glass of wine. On May 23, food will be provided by Weckerly’s Ice Cream and Las Olas Mexican Food Truck and the musical acts will be J2 and The MC Band.

On May 24, The Manny Trio and Zodiac Jack will be making music and the featured food vendors will be Weckerly’s Ice Cream, Oink & Moo BBQ and Surf and Turf Truck. On May 25, Alex & Shiloh are the music part and Oink & Moo BBQ is the food part.

The PDX Summer Concert Series gets underway on May 23 at Paradocx Vineyard  (1833 Flint Hill Road, Landenberg, 610- 255-5684, www.paradocx.com). Staring off the summer-long series will be a concert by The Essentials. Tickets are $10 for the show which runs from 5-9 p.m.

Black Walnut Winery (3000 Lincoln Highway, Sadsburyville, 610-857-5566, www.blackwalnutwinery.com) will present its Fifth Annual Black Walnut Winery Blues Festival this weekend with shows on May 23 and 24 from noon-7 p.m. each day.

On May 23, the free family event will feature music will be provided by Sister Blue Band and Bushmaster featuring Gary Brown. The acts slated for May 24 are the Tom Guest Band and the Deb Callahan Band.

Forno Inferno will be on site making and selling gourmet wood-fired brick oven pizzas. Visitors can bring their own picnic lunches but no outside alcohol is allowed on the site. Guests can also bring their own blankets and chairs.

On May 23, Kreutz Creek Vineyards (553 S. Guernsey Road, West Grove, 610-869-4412, http://www.kreutzcreekvineyards.com) will host “Party in the Vineyard.” The free event, which which runs from 2-5 p.m., will feature the classic pop music performed by the Sin Brothers.

The Bucks County Wine Trail hosts several seasonal events each year — including a pair of “Spring Winery Tours.” The Fifth Annual Spring Winery Tour is scheduled for May 17 and 24. The two-part self-guided tour will highlight nine unique family-owned wineries along the Bucks County Wine Trail. The North Tour was held last weekend.

The South Tour on May 24 will visit Buckingham Valley Vineyards (1521 Durham Road, Buckingham, 215-794-7188, www.pawine.com), Crossing Vineyards & Winery (1853 Wrightstown Road, Washington Crossing, 215-493-6500, www.crossingvineyards.com), Rose Bank Winery (258 Durham Road, Newtown, 215-860-5899, www.rosebankwinery.com), Rushland Ridge Vineyards (2665 Rushland Road, Rushland, 215-598-0251, www.rushlandridge.com) and Wycombe Vineyards (1391 Forest Grove Road, Furlong, 215-598-9463, www.wycombevineyards.com).

Tickets are $35 for the South Tour.

The Mount Hope Estate & Winery in Cornwall’s Great Pennsylvania FlavorFest has evolved into one of the winery’s most popular warm weather events. This year’s Eighth Annual Great Pennsylvania FlavorFest will be held May 23 and 24 on Mount Hope’s grounds (Route 72, Cornwall, 717- 665-7021, www.parenfaire.com) from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. each day.

Thie annual feast for the taste buds features many of the region’s finest wineries sampling and selling their vintages, cooking demonstrations, specialty foods for sampling and for sale, master artisans, live music and an interactive Crafty Kid’s area.

One of the nicest aspects of the evnt is that it is free — free admission, free tastings and free parking.

There will be 24 wineries from Pennsylvania offering samples of and selling of their many varieties. Local restaurants and food vendors will also be offering samples from their menus. Some of the featured wineries are Kog Hill Winery, Beningna’s Creek Vineyard & Winery, Bee Kind Winery, Franklin Hill Vineyards, Sand Castle Winery and Stonekeep Meadery.

FlavorFest will feature a variety of specialty food vendors. Visitors will be able to sample and purchase gourmet food items such as sauces, dips, pastries, cheeses – along with Pennsylvania Dutch favorites such as whoopie pies and traditional shoo-fly pie.

As an added attraction, chefs from local restaurants will present cooking demonstrations each day highlighting gourmet dishes in their restaurants’ signature styles.

Anyone who is interested in classic automobiles, antique tractors, vintage Mustangs or just cars in general should consider heading to Kimberton this weekend. On May 24, the 34^th Annual Chester County Car Show will be held at the Kimberton Fire Company Fairgrounds(Route 113, Kimberton,215-646-4265, http://www.chescoacc.com).

The event will begin with auto registration at 9 a.m. A wide array of vehicles will be on display, including antique cars, motorcycles, classic cars, antique tractors, hit-and-miss engines, Mustangs and street rods.

In addition to all the cars on display, the one-day event will also feature an automobile flea market, an arts-and-crafts show, a food court and music by a deejay. There is no admission fee but a $2 parking donation is requested.

“Historic Autos at Winterthur” (Route 52, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-888-4600, www.winterthur.org), which is included free with museum admission, provides visitors with the opportunity to see a variety of vehicles from the past that have been maintained in pristine condition.

There will be different displays every Saturday through the month of May. The themes for the next two Saturdays are “Historic Automobiles — Trends in Preservation” (May 23) and “Cars and Colors: 1950-1961–61” (May 30).

Another installment in the Winterthur Invitational Historic Autos Lectures series will be held May 23 at 1 p.m. in the Copeland Lecture Hall. “The du Pont Family’s ‘Garage’” by estate historian Maggie Lidz will feature a 30-minute walking lecture around the complex Winterthur building known as “The Coach House,” an 1840 barn rebuilt and repurposed continually over 100 years.

Now best known as the site of Winterthur’s Post Office, in the past, it was used to stable horses, kennel dogs, and store coaches and automobiles. The stone work, building shape, and window and door frames tell the century-old story of this historic structure. The walking lecture starts at the Brown Horticulture Learning Center.

Winterthur’s “Pop Up Beer Garden” attraction begins on May 22 from 4 to 9 p.m. on the Visitor Patio with live etertainment, food and local microbrews will be served. The beer parties will be held every Friday through August 21.

The beer list includes Twin Lakes Winterthur Wheat, Yards Love Stout, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Twin Lakes Route 52 Pilsner and Crispin Blackberry Pear Cider while the food offerings will be Bavarian Pretzels with House Mustard, House Smoked Bratwurst Sandwich on a Torpedo Roll and German Potato Salad with Clove Honey.

Admission to Winterthur is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and students, and $5 for children (ages 2-11).

Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of Longwood Gardens’ annual Festival of Fountains. Now through September 1, the festival features illuminated musical fountain displays and live entertainment performances in addition to gardening demonstrations, plant walks, behind-the-scenes tours and children’s activities.

In the Open Air Theatre, there is a six-foot curtain of water that rises after the shows, along with daytime fountain displays. The Italian Water Garden has 18 blue-tiled pools, carved limestone statuary and more than 600 fountain jets that recirculate 5,000 gallons of water a minute in continually changing fountain displays.

The Main Fountain Garden features hundreds of fountains propelling as much as 10,000 gallons of water a minute as high as 130 feet. The fountains run continuously from 9 a.m. until closing with special five-minute shows throughout the day.

Other fountains around the site include the Italian Water Garden, Sylvan Fountain in Peirce’s Park, Flower Garden Fountains and Eye of Water, Waterfall, and Hillside Garden Flume.

The Festival of Fountains also features live entertainment performances throughout the summer.

On May 23 at 7:30 p.m., Longwood Gardens will present Philly Pops’ “Memorial Day Salute to Broadway,” which will include a program full of classic Broadway hits and patriotic. The Philly Pops  will feature vocalists Klea Blackhurst, Ross Lekites and Kathryn Guthrie. Ticket prices range from $55-$85.

Video link for Philly Pops — https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZH9TxoKhrgc.

Longwood Gardens also has “Spring Blooms” running through May 23. Visitors can enjoy hundreds of lush acres featuring burgeoning gardens of daffodils, tulips, magnolias, azaleas, flowering cherries and more than 240,000 flowering bulbs.

Daily visitor programs, including gardening demonstrations, behind-the-scenes tours, and talks add to Longwood’s charms. Children will enjoy the many activities in the outdoor Children’s Area, and the imaginative fun of the Indoor Children’s Garden.

Admission to Longwood Gardens is $20 for adults, $17for seniors (ages 62 and older) and $10 for students (ages 5-18), $8

If you enjoy walking around garden displays or if you like to look at model railroad layouts, then you should definitely check out the Garden Railway Display at the Morris Arboretum (100 Northwestern Avenue, Chestnut Hill, 215-247-5777, www.business-services.upenn.edu/arboretum/index.html).

The ultra-popular Garden Railway Display has become a major summer attraction at The Gardens at Morris Arboretum. The display has its official season opening scheduled for May 23 and then will remain open until September 7.

This year’s theme “Art & Architecture” will feature miniatures of iconic Philadelphia sculptures and famous lighthouses as well as buildings from the last World’s Fair in 1964 — and a lot more.

Some of the featured displays will be Rodin’s “The Thinker,” Oldenburg’s “Clothes Pin,” Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Falling Waters” and Thomas Jefferson’s “Monticello.” There wil also be whimsical of roadside attractions such as “Randy’s Donuts” and the “Giant Teapot.”

The railway has a quarter-mile of track featuring seven loops and tunnels with 15 different rail lines and two cable cars, nine bridges (including a trestle bridge you can walk under) and bustling model trains.

The buildings and the display are all made of natural materials – bark, leaves, twigs, hollow logs, mosses, acorns, dried flowers, seeds and stones – to form a perfectly proportioned miniature landscape complete with miniature rivers.

Philadelphia-area landmarks are all meticulously decorated for the holidays with lights that twinkle. There is even a masterpiece replica of Independence Hall are made using pine cone seeds for shingles, acorns as finials and twigs as downspouts.

The official “Garden Railway Grand Opening” is scheduled for May 23 from 1-3 p.m. There will be activities for the entire family including craft activities for kids. And, there will be free ice cream for all visitors (while supplies last) and various hard pretzels with which guests can create their own delicious art and architecture.

Video link for Garden Railway — https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RSJUqYxoHb4.

Admissionis $16 for adults; $14 for seniors (65 and older); $8 for students (ages 13-17 or with ID), active military and retired military; and free for children (under 3)

you visit the Cannstatter Volksfest Verein (9130 Academy Road, Philadelphia, 215-397-5909, http://www.cvvphilly.com) on May 25, you’ll find an event with a definite international feel — an Irish festival at a German social club on an American holiday.

On Monday, the 2015 Guinness Memorial Day Irish Festival will be held Cannstatter Volksfest Verein, a German social club in the Torresdale section of Philadelphia. The gates open at 11 a.m. The music will begin at noon and run until dusk.

In addition to the live Irish music, the festival will have vendors with Irish goods and packaged Irish food items such as tea biscuits and traditional steel-cut oatmeal. There will also be vendors selling beer and a variety of fresh Irish food items.

The rain-or-shine event, which will be moved inside if the weather becomes inclement, offers a variety of activities and entertainment for children — and the entire family. Tickets are $10 with children (13 and under) admitted free with a paying adult.