Summer Outing for the Family: Middlefield Market in Middlefield, Ohio

Remember the old Levy's commercials? "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's" they said.

Well, you don't have to be Amish to love the Middlefield Market.

Open Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, from eight a.m. to three p.m., the market makes a great summertime outing for the family. It's at 15848 Nauvoo Road, in Middlefield, Ohio. That's about an hour from Cleveland.

When driving there, remember, this is Amish country. You have much less time to stop or slow down behind a buggy than you do behind a car, because even a slowly moving car is moving away from you a lot faster than a buggy is. The time to slow down is when you first see the buggy ahead of you. It's also important not to zoom past a buggy. A horse is not a car; a horse has opinions of its own, and, if frightened, may swerve dangerously.

Admission is $1.00 per car, and where else do you get to go for that price?

We went on Memorial Day, getting there at just the wrong time of day. We got there at eleven a.m., and a few dealers were already packing up. But it didn't matter; we had a great time, anyway.

First we strolled the outside area, where tables cost ten or fifteen dollars, there are pros and amateurs and everything in between.

I bought a couple of sets of those round flat doohickeys you put under your furniture to make it slide. At a buck and a half per set of four, I was glad to get them; the store prices are usually a lot higher. I also bought, for a dollar, a kit to make a needlepoint tote bag.

My husband always looks for slide rules, and this was a red-letter day for him. Not only did he find several for sale, but one of them was a slide rule he didn't already have, at a good price ($24.00, which seems like a lot to me, but what do I know from slide rules?).

What else was for sale? Everything! China and glass, knives and bullets, pot and pans; socks, hats, dish towels; books, CDs, tools. Lots of plants - some nice azaleas. Toys. Both Really Ugly Stuff and Really Useful Stuff. Underpriced stuff. Overpriced stuff. Literally, everything from baby clothes to old-person diapers, from peace plaques to gun clips, from homemade sausage to Hamburger Helper.

An auction was going on. In fact, three country line auctions were going on outside, as auctioneers moved along lines of cardboard boxes, selling the contents for what they would bring.

Indoors, there was more of everything, plus a chance to cool off out of the sun. Also, another auction, this one for plants.

When we got tired of walking, we bought lunch and sat down to eat it. The usual market fare is available: pizza, sausage sandwiches, gyros, lemonade, sno-cones. (If you prefer, you can go into Middlefield, perhaps to Mary Yoder's Amish Restaurant.)

Also on the premises is Nauvoo Country Furniture, two floors of gorgeous solid oak and cherry pieces, Amish made. (You can pick a dining room table top and they'll put the legs you like on it.) Makes you want to toss out all the wood in your house and start fresh. After you've looked at the furniture, you can stop in at Ranewen's Middlefield Market Bakery for a sweet treat or a delicious loaf of bread.

If you come on the right day, there will be a horse auction. Okay, you don't need a horse, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be interesting.

We weren't there for the auction, but we did see horses, because, of course, a lot of the shoppers are Amish. We noted that small Amish children are neither better nor worse behaved than small "English" ones. However, they and their parents do seem a good bit quieter. It's always the non-Amish that you hear yelling at their kids.

Before you head for your car, you'll probably want to pick up some fruit or vegetables. (On Memorial Day, you could buy California cherries or Mexican tomatoes, but, Northern Ohio's frost free date being May 31, no Ohio produce as yet.)

Bring your water bottle and your family and have a ball!