08/28/2026
Fred has been selling his hand-whittled carvings here since the site had exactly one building on it and the train stopped just for him.
He started whittling in his 40s. A retired schoolteacher with soft-spoken ways and a knack for holding a room. Forty-some years later, he's 89, our oldest vendor, in years and in tenure and he's still at it, table set up, magnets and carvings laid out in all their variety.
Ask him why he sells them and he'll tell you it's because he'd have nowhere to put them all.
Each piece takes him over an hour. His magnets are $8 and they cost him $7 to make. The math on that tells you everything: it's a labour of love.
Fred has watched generations of families come through and climb aboard that train. If you've been out here, you've likely seen him. Stop and say hello; he'll happily whittle away while you tell him your story. He says it keeps him young.
No custom orders, but everything on his table is one-of-a-kind anyway.
