Flea market and antiques

FAIRLEA, W.Va. -- The State Fair's Giant Fall Flea Market and Antique Show is set for Oct. 5-7 at the fairgrounds in Fairlea. The annual event showcases more than 100 indoor and outdoor vendors selling antiques, collectibles, crafts, new and used merchandise, and fall produce.

Admission to the three-day event is free. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 5 and 6, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 7.

Free parking is available on the main fairgrounds and adjacent to the U.S. 219 South bridge entrance. Camping is available, but reservations must be made. For more information and application forms, visit www.statefairofwv.com, or call the State Fair office at 304-645-1090.

New River train trip

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Train trips through the New River Gorge will run Oct. 20, 21, 27 and 28, and tickets are still available in the coach cars.

The trips start at 8:30 a.m. in Huntington, with a stop in St. Albans, before traveling the 65 miles through the gorge and arriving at Hinton at 1 p.m. During the three-hour layover in Hinton, enjoy a street fair, local entertainment, food and the railroad museum. The train departs Hinton at 4 p.m.

The Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society Inc. has operated the fall train trips nearly every year since 1966.

For information on prices and availability, call 866-639-7487.

Blennerhassett by night

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. -- Tickets are available for the annual candlelight tour of the reconstructed Blennerhassett Mansion on Blennerhassett Island on Oct. 12 and 13.

Costumed re-enactors let visitors experience social life of 200 years ago when Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett built their mansion on the wilderness island in the Ohio River in 1800. Music, dance and card games of the era will be re-created.

After debarking from the sternwheeler, hundreds of lanterns will light the gravel paths leading to the mansion. A harvest dinner will be served at the picnic pavilion and other food concessions will be offered, as will rides on horse-drawn wagons.

Reservations are required for the boat trip and tour; $25 for adults, $17 for children. The harvest dinner is $15 for all ages, with reservations due by Oct. 4. Call 304-420-4800.

The boat departs from the Blennerhasstt Museum, Second and Juliana streets, on the half-hour from 6 to 8 p.m., and departs the island on the half-hour from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Ansted house, museum

ANSTED, W.Va. -- The Page-Vawter House is a Victorian-era mansion in Ansted, near Hawks Nest State Park, and will be part of a historical tour Sept. 25 and 26.

Contentment, a pre-Civil War structure that is now a museum maintained by the Fayette County Historical Society, also is part of the tour.

Hawks Nest State Park is offering a package that includes the house and museum tour and overnight lodging for two and an express breakfast at the Hawks Next Lodge for $70.58. The price of the tour alone is $15 per person.

Reservations are required for either option by calling 304-658-5212 or by emailing hawksnesti...@wv.gov.

The tours on both days begin at 3:30 p.m. with a welcome in the lodge lobby.

Hammons family to perform

MARLINTON, W.Va. -- The Hammons family will bring its tradition of fiddling, banjo playing, ballad singing and storytelling at the Hammons Musical Heritage Celebration during the Autumn Harvest Festival. The group performs at 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Pocahontas County Opera House.

Young Paris Hammons accompanied his family when they moved into Pocahontas County just before the Civil War. It was Paris' children, Maggie, Burl and Sherman, whose music and stories were recorded and cataloged by local musician Dwight Diller and Library of Congress folklorists Alan Jabbour and Carl Fleischhauer.

The result of their collaboration was the 1973 two-record album titled "The Hammons Family: A Study of a West Virginia Family's Traditions," which later was reissued by Rounder Records.

Musicians and storytellers of all ages are invited to perform in the celebration. Registration is free and is available in advance online at www.pocahontasoperahouse.org, or by calling B.J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989. Registration will also be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Musicians must play acoustic instruments and play and sing in the old-time style. Each group should play or sing two tunes.

Doors will open an hour before the event. Tickets are $8 adults, and free for those 17 and younger. Tickets are available in advance at www.pocahontasoperahouse.org.

Homer house reopens

SCARBOROUGH, Maine -- The studio in Maine overlooking the Atlantic Ocean where painter Winslow Homer produced some of his most notable work is opening to the public following a multiyear, multimillion-dollar renovation by the Portland Museum of Art.

The studio along the rocky shore in Scarborough, south of Portland, will begin holding public tours Sept. 25. Museum officials unveiled the studio Sept. 17 to members of the media and museum supporters.

Homer lived in the studio from 1883 until his death in 1910. The museum bought the building in 2006 from Homer's great-grandnephew. The former carriage house with a balcony provided inspiration for many of Homer's seascapes.