By Kevin Williams
Okay, click your seat-belts and let's go for our weekly whirl through everything and anything "Plain" in the news.
AMISH ACRES EASTER BASH: Â It's really an unlikely Easter tradition because I doubt very many (or any) Amish attend this event, but Amish Acres has always been a tourist stop for non-Amish in northern Indiana. Â Â Anyone who has visited northern Indiana's Amish community has probably stumbled upon Amish Acres. Â When I was a young, young reporter, probably 20 years ago, I stopped in at Amish Acres. Â Not much has changed there since. Â Click here to read about their annual Easter bash.
DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA AMISH MARKET: Â This more interested me just in the "mechanics" of it all...Delaware County is a tiny, but densely populated, place in SE Pennsylvania sandwiched between Lancaster County and the city of Philadelphia. Â An Amish man has opened an "Amish market" in Delaware County, allowing people who enjoy Lancaster County to enjoy it without having to make the drive (the drive would be my favorite part!). Â Anyway, click here to read.
MENNONITES IN ENGLAND FADE: Â The Mennonite church in England has dwindled down to so few members that formal church services have ceased there. Click here to read more.
Amish Mafia "Star" Esther Schmucker with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Imir Williams
AMISH MAFIA: Â If you enjoy the show, I apologize for being so negative, but the show is junk. Â Well, let me put it to you this way, the show is NOT junk IF you view it for what it is: FICTION. Â As long as you watch the show knowing that it is all false, just as much as say Bewitched or Star Trek, then all is good, enjoy the show. But if you think it has any documentary value, nada. Â Here's the latest of the show's "stars" seeming to have legal issues.
MILLIE'S CHUNKY PECAN PIE BARS: Â For newbies, Millie Otto is not affiliated with this website, she is an Amish writer who pens a weekly piece for a local newspaper in Illinois. Â I've never met her, but from what I can gather from her column, her church seems very progressive, far less insular than some Amish churches. Click here to read her column this week and get her recipe for chunky pecan pie bars.
FIRST AMISH COUPLE ARRIVES: Â We've been following this story closely on Amish365.com and we'll continue to do so and Canadian media has been all over it....and with good reason....the Amish starting a settlement from scratch on Prince Edward Island is a big deal. I'd not be surprised in the least if PEI eventually became a booming, bustling Amish outpost. Â The first Amish couple, true pioneers, arrived on PEI over the weekend. Click here to read more.
Kevin
I was miffed at Millie for a long time because she embarked on a deliberate - and successful - campaign to knock The Amish Cook from the Mattoon paper and replace it with her column. But, you know, that is business and the Amish are business people like anyone else, so now I sort of have a grudging respect for her, it is tough to write a weekly column and she manages to do it!