Six fall fairs, a $99 car show, and ribs on the bay. Pace yourself.

Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance — Sunday, September 20 | 9 AM-4:30 PM | Cobble Beach, Kemble

Year eleven of the fanciest lawn in Grey County. The show field opens at 9, judging runs all morning, and the awards start at 2:15. This year's features are Mercedes-Benz at 140 years and the Daytona Cobra Coupes, with the man who designed them, Peter Brock, at the Roxy on Saturday to talk about it. Sunday is $99 a head, $55 for teens, and worth it if cars are your thing. If they're only sort of your thing, Saturday morning brings the cars downtown. Cars & Coffee takes over 2nd Avenue from 9 to 1:30, and Oblivion Avenue on 1st puts the 80s and 90s stuff out on the street.

Lucknow Fall Fair — Friday-Sunday, September 18-20 | Lucknow Fairgrounds & Sports Complex, Lucknow

The theme is "A Barnyard Bash," and Friday is the night to go because it's free. Food trucks and the arena bar open at 5:30, the Krusher Stunt Team does an extreme stunt show at 6, then it's opening ceremonies at 7 with frog jumping and old-fashioned games outside, the winning pie auction around 7:45, and free bingo on the arena floor at 8:45. Saturday is the parade at 11 with the Teeswater Pipe Band in the arena lot after, and the zucchini car races run 11 to 3, which is exactly what it sounds like. Sunday winds down with breakfast at 8:30 and a blessing of the pets at the gazebo at 11:45. Bring the dog.

Owen Sound Ribfest — Friday-Sunday, September 18-20 | Fri 4-10 PM, Sat 12-10 PM, Sun 12-7 PM | Bayshore Community Centre, Owen Sound

Fourteen years in. Five rib teams (Camp 31, Big Texas, Billy Bones, Sticky Fingers, Jack the Ribber) parked at the Bayshore for three days, plus bloomin' onions, kettle corn and BeaverTails for whoever isn't eating ribs. Bands all weekend, including a Morgan Wallen tribute, a Bob Marley tribute, and a Battle of the Bands. Five bucks at the gate, kids 10 and under free, and the money goes to Grey Bruce Hospice.

Walkerton's Victoria Jubilee Hall opened in 1897, a 300-seat opera house built for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. By 1996 it was sitting empty, and a year later it was headed for demolition when a group of locals took it over and spent years bringing it back.

On November 20, that's the room where Led Zeppelin IV gets played front to back. Grey Bruce Live puts local musicians on that stage, one iconic album per show, no skipping. Stairway is track four, if you're pacing yourself.

Tickets are $30, cash only. Five places have them: Axe N' Gear Music, A&R Music, Essential Wellness and the Hall itself in Walkerton, plus Schuett Furniture in Mildmay. Three hundred seats, and the tickets are cash at a counter, so the math is simple.

Make a night of it. Dinner downtown, a drink after, and a hall that nearly didn't make it to 100.

Last week we asked for the little shops you always pull over for. You sent more than 60 in a week. So, yeah. You have opinions about general stores.

We're keeping the form open. If your favourite isn't in yet, it probably isn't, so take thirty seconds and add it. Shop, town, what you buy there. Independents only, and they have to be open now.

Our Community Calendar covers Grey & Bruce Counties. It's a large area, so if we missed an event we are sorry, we will do better next time!

Lots of events across Grey and Bruce this week. Six fall fairs (Arran-Tara, Neustadt, Feversham, Lucknow, Wiarton and Chatsworth), Terry Fox Runs in ten towns on Sunday, the SweetWater Music Festival running five nights in Owen Sound, and 33 artists opening their studios for free on the weekend. Plus the usual pile of markets, legion meat draws and library programs in between.

It all lives on the map. Open it, find your town, tap a pin, see what's close. Same events, way less scrolling.

3 more worth getting off the couch for:

Wiarton Fall Fair — Wiarton, Fri-Sat Sept 18-19. Sheep shearing competitions, a horse pull and log skid Friday night, and the Farmers Olympics, which includes a cattle chip flip. $10, kids 12 and under free.

Sarah Slean at SweetWater — Owen Sound, Sat Sept 19, 8 PM. Four-time Juno nominee with bass and drums at the Harmony Centre. The big-name night of the festival.

Owen Sound Attack Home Opener — Owen Sound, Sat Sept 19, 7 PM. Kitchener comes to the Bayshore for the back half of a home-and-home. Hockey's back.

There's a little wooden cafe on Highway 6 at Lion's Head with the coffee on at 6:30 AM. On the Peninsula, that's early enough to have the trail to yourself.

That's TruFood Cafe. Antoinette cooked for the Lion's Head farmers' market for years before she opened the doors in 2018, and you can tell. It's market food with a roof over it. Baked in-house, organic and local where she can get it, and yes, there's gluten-free, vegan and keto on the board. It somehow doesn't feel like a health food store. It feels like somebody's kitchen.

Two things people keep coming back for. The goat cheese and spinach panini, which has been a staple since the year they opened. And the cookies. Pineapple pecan has a fan club. And if you've never had a tahini cookie and figure you wouldn't like one, the chewy chocolate chip tahini is where you find out you're wrong.

Coffee's organic, dark or medium. And there's a freezer by the counter with soups, stews and quiche to bring back to the cottage for the night nobody wants to cook. In September, that's most nights.

It's small. A few tables in, a few out front, and a steady stream of hiking boots eating breakfast bagels on the way to the Bruce Trail. Google has it at 4.8 across six hundred-odd reviews, and Tripadvisor has it first in Lion's Head. Not bad for a place you'd drive right past.

Colours are starting up there. Get up early, grab a panini for the pack, go.

On The River Road just outside Port Elgin, there's an orchard where the first apples came off two weeks ago and the Honeycrisp are due any day now.

That's Smiths' Apples. The Smiths ran it for years, and the name has outlasted two changes of hands. The people running it now are Chloe and Cameron, who drove out one day to go apple picking, saw a for-sale sign at the gate, and by spring 2024 owned an orchard. That's one way to do it.

Dwarf trees, so the kids can reach. A bakery that runs on the orchard's own apples. And fresh-pressed cider in a five-litre box, their apples and nothing else, that keeps three months after you open it. Which is generous, because it won't last three weeks.

But let's be honest about why people really go. Reviews since the new owners took over keep landing on the same two things: the apples, and how friendly everyone is. After that it's the corn maze and the wagon ride, in whatever order your kids decide.

The bakery is where the visit ends. Double-crust apple pies, butter tarts, and an apple-cheddar biscuit that sounds weird until you eat one. Pumpkin pie shows up once the patch does, and this is Pumpkinfest's official pumpkin patch, so it will.

One planning note: they're closed Mondays. The day this lands is a good one to go.

The Honeycrisp won't last. Bring a bag.

Know a hidden spot that you want to share? Reply to this email and let us know!

Gates open Tuesday at 8:30 AM on a farm at the corner of Bruce Road 3 and Durham Road, five kilometres west of Walkerton. It's the 107th International Plowing Match, and it runs through Saturday at 5. Parking is free. Tickets are $25 at the gate, $5 for kids 6 to 15, and 5 and under walk in free. Buy online and the family pack is $50 for two adults and two kids.

Pick your day by what you want to see.

Thursday is the big one. The Mudmen play the main stage at noon, the RAM Rodeo runs at 12 and 3 in the truck corral, and the Children's Parade goes at 11.

Friday and Saturday are for the combine demolition derby, 3:30 PM both days. Friday also has the combines parade at 11, and Saturday closes it out with Shania Twang at 2 and the closing ceremonies at 4.

Tuesday and Wednesday are the quiet days, if quiet is what you're after. Same square dancing tractors, same lumberjack show three times a day, same Clydesdales, shorter lines. Dave and The Retros, fresh off the Mildmay fair, play the main stage Tuesday at 1:30.

Three things nobody tells you. Get a hand stamp if you leave, or you're paying twice. A lot of the vendors are cash only, so hit the bank first. And leave the dog at home. No pets in Tented City, no exceptions.

If one of today's events sparks a little adventure, hit reply and tell us how it went, we love hearing your stories.

Forward the Buzz: Know a friend who's always asking, "What's happening this weekend?" Pass this email along and help them get in the loop.

Catch you next Tuesday with a fresh batch of local events, hidden gems, and small-town surprises.

Stay curious,
— Cody & The GB Buzz Team

P.S. Quick reminder of how the Buzz works: nobody pays to be a Foodie Flash or a Hidden Gem, ever. Those spots are earned, not sold. The clearly marked sponsor spots are what pay for the rest, and a couple open up every month. Fall is booking now. Want your business in front of 8,000+ neighbours across Grey-Bruce? Hit reply and I'll send you what's available.