WHEN IS PRESTON COURT DAYS 2026?

When Is Preston Court Day in KY?

The Preston Court Days are set to run for a total of four (official) days 

and always ends on the third Monday in October.  

Unofficial local 2026 Year Dates:

October 12-19

Official weekend dates:

October 15-19

Unofficially, however, it expands a full seven days if you count when the locals begin to set up early.

WHAT IS PRESTON COURT DAY?

Court Days in Preston, KY, is an outdoor festival known to locals as Trade Days.

Every year the attractions grow and expand drastically.

The main focus of of the Preston Court Days are the dog and various animal trades, gun swapping/buying, and yard sales. Especially since the neighboring Mt.Sterling Trade Days banned 

 the sale or trade of animals around 1970.

But there are also numerous flea market type booths, craft booths, food booths and even some smaller carnival rides staggered all throughout Preston,

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The last day of the event is ALWAYS the third Monday of October. 

So this will help you determine which day it begins each following year.

Where is Preston, KY?
Preston is one of the towns that make up the county known as Bath. It is only about three miles south west of Owingsville, right off I-64 interstate, exit 121. It was founded in 1881 as Preston Station as being part of the Big Sandy Railroad. 

Directions to Preston, KY please click here: Preston Map


  
I recommend the Blooming Onions! 
The original ones, not the cheaper versions out there. 

But my sister swears the Amish home made fried apple pies are to die for!

And the chili dogs along with an ice cold Ale-8.

And my husband loves the Philly Cheese Steak with all the peppers and such:

If you need driving directions to Preston, KY 

please click here: Preston Map

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*VENDORS:*
For vendor information, you may try this FB link.
Note: Sorry, I am no help otherwise for booth rentals.

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Bit o' History
Preston Court Days originally stemmed off from the Mt. Sterling Court Days in the 1970's with the help from James "Coon" Conyers.

Way back in 1794, the Mt. Sterling Court days got it's name because once a year the Circuit Judge made a visit to town to try criminals.  And people from the area  would meet up  to sell their items and crops or to do some trading of goods. Back then Mt. Sterling allowed the sale and trade of dogs and many other animals.  But dogs were always the main attraction.  Hunters from all over came to buy, sell and trade for dogs. Hence the nickname of the event, Trade Days. 

Then sometime in the 1970's, the Mt. Sterling Court Days banned the sale of animals, especially dogs. I'm not sure why but many people were outraged, including James "Coon" Conyers.  He had been running the largest dog trade days in KY, so he decided that he would start one up in Preston. 

  

And wow did it take off!

Nowadays, coon hunters, shoppers, sightseers, antique hunters and everyday locals can't wait for this yearly event to roll in!

The tiny town of Preston is made up of only about 500 people.  But when Court Days roll in, the visitor count will easily exceed ten to fifteen thousand.  And each year that number continues to grow!

See ya'll there either buying, selling or trading.

Leave a comment 

and let us all know what your favorite Court Day Food is!

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2008/10/18/559612_court-days-rolls-around-in-preston.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

FIVE COUNTRY FOODS for FRIDAY

Five on Friday

Here are five country foods I often cook that I cannot live without....

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

FRIED CABBAGE

CORN ON THE COB with Chili Powder

CHOCOLATE GRAVY & BISQUITS

BROWN BEANS

Today I'm linking up with

 

MASON JAR RING PUMPKINS with FREE LINKUP

MASON JAR RING PUMPKINS

Hey ya'll!

Time for some more Fall crafts to get us geared to the cooler months a comin'!

Here's some cute pumpkins I recently made out of some old, leftover Mason Jar Rings.

(Save the lids too because I used them to make some Mason Jar Fridge Magnets!)

It's a pretty easy craft and all you really need is:

-Mason Jar Rings (save the lids too!)

-Twine

-An acorn

-Glue (I use E-6000 found at Walmart)

-Cinnamon colored paint (optional)

Okay, lets get out our Mason jar rings. 

Here's my big ole wooden slat, bushel basket full of the ones I save:

If you don't have any on hand, just grab a few boxes at any Dollar General or Walmart. They have tons in store now because it's canning season. And they are only about $2.00 a box or so of 24.

Now grab you a roll of some type of twine or wire if you have any. I use this basic jute, twisted twine for about all of my crafts anymore. It is like $2.00 a roll at the Dollar General.

Alrighty, now on to the stringing of the lids.

Just basically just take a bunch of lids, facing the same way, and string them onto your twine.  Don't cut your twine yet until you know how big you want to make your pumpkin.  

For one of my pumpkins I used the Large mouth rings and for the other smaller one, I used the regular size rings.

Here's my sister holding it up for a pic.

It will probably take more than you are thinking of in your mind. Mine did. But the fuller it is, the better it looks.

After you get a bunch strung on it and rounded up how you like, just kinda tie the twine together to give it a strong hold.

Be sure to leave enough twine hanging out, before you cut it, to make as a cute looking vines!

And then just take you a pine cone and glue it in place right in the center top. 

 Make like a good stem.

You can buy a bag of pine cones and plastic pumpkins at the Dollar Mart right now for a $1.00. A cute variety bag!

And then just go and sort of dry brush you on some streaks of cinnamon colored craft paint to about every other ring.  Not too much color, just enough to give it a bit of something.  Kind of rub the brush off on some paper before using it.  Because you really don't want too thick of a coat. Just kind of streak it on.

After this pic, I took my finger and rubbed off some of the orange to give it a more worn look.

And that is about all there is to this cute Mason Jar Ring Pumpkin craft!

Here's a few more pics of them:

Hope ya'll liked this cute little Mason Jar Ring Pumpkin idea. I wish I could take the credit for it, but I can't. I first saw it on Pinterest.  But whoever did come up with it first was a genius!

Have a craft related post you'd like to share in my linkup below? Share away! & See ya'll next time,

~Lisa

My Ride to the Amish Store #10

Hey ya'll!

Today is Thursday which means time to share some ole' country fence pics. 

And much thanks to  Run*A*Round Ranch Report for hosting the weekly linkup!

For this weeks pics, I thought I'd share some back roads, country pics from the beautiful ride that leads me to our local Amish store. I love dropping in time to time to just see how things are still done without all the modern technology we are so use to.  The shelves are old wooden plank boards that are neatly stacked.  The floors are squeaky old boards that let people know where you are. I just love the ole' timely feeling. My aunt still gets her big ole' country, fresh, brown eggs here every week.

My eggs in a crock. You can leave farm fresh eggs out of the fridge as long as they have never been in one.

Here is some of what I see.

 Heading in towards the area there are tons of fences and winding roads.

Look close and you can see the worn buggy markings on the road.

Up and down hills and banks...

 Just follow the Amish buggy marks in the roads...

Then after about 30 minutes of those views above, I get to turn onto an old, country gravel drive.

 And it starts to lead me right up to the beautiful two story home, barns and silos  and the Amish store sitting right at top.

This is my favorite pic showing the side of a barn where the buggies are stored.

I didn't take any photos of the store or home on purpose because there were people outside working and children playing closeup. And it is against Amish beliefs to be photographed face on since they firmly believe in the Commandments that states, "Thou shalt not make any graven image or likeness of any thing."

And if I were to still take a photograph of them by knowing this, then there would be a burden upon me for doing so.

 

Maybe my next visit no one will be outside and I can show off the cute little country store.

And after purchasing my bag of oats and blackberry jam and my Aunt having her eggs in tow, we headed back out of the quaint, quiet area,

and back into modern civilization.

On our way home....

OLD FENCES in AUGUSTA KY #9

Hey ya'll!

Today I'm joining up with  Run*A*Round Ranch Report to share some country fence photos in Augusta, KY.

Friday, (Aug. 28th) I took a ride up to the Ohio River and had lunch with my Aunt Marlene. 

Just a picnic we had packed. Home made chicken salad, Ritz crackers, chips, assorted donuts for dessert and of course, Ale-8 (most popular pop here in KY) to wash it all down with.

Then we just sat around, watching everyone come and go...

Watched the Jenny Ann ferry (oldest ferry still on the Ohio River) come and go a few times too...

(Still only $5 for a car and foot travel is free)

Click here to see a live cam view from the Augusta website.

Looked around at a few landmarks...

This is the Welcome center and Rotary Railroad Museum. Isn't it so cute?

 Visited a few shops...

I loved this little shop btw, the owner was the nicest I met all day! I could've just talked to her all day. If you ever visit, be sure to drop in Ninas!

I heard George Clooney makes his home here on the River.

I'm not a big celebrity person, but I do think that man is awesome.

I never ran into him, but my Aunt has seen him in front of this little, cute store called Nina's....

on a tv thing, gearing up for the Labor Day celebration called Heritage Days.

It was the most perfect weather ever.

And as always, I was still looking around for some cute fences. I found tons, but here are a few I loved.

I am a sucker for about any corner fence out there, so I loved this one.

As you can tell, I love old, wooden fences the most. But every now and then others catch my eye too...

 

 

Home of General John Payne

Est: 1792

Now a B&B on the river...

And here is a partial back view:

One thing is to say for sure about this town. It is just lovely.

The people are friendly and the streets were all kept very neat and tidy. Most of the shops were still ran by long time owners and you could tell they were proud of that. I just love little ole' towns like this.

I even got to sit outside one, in makeshift farming machine seats, while a tiny shop was "Gone for 5 minutes."  And they really were, lol. 

It was just an old time relaxing kinda day to let your worries go away.

Thanks again to Good Fences for the linkup!