Organizers for next year’s two-day May Faire event (May 2 and 3, 2025) have announced plans for “A Rural Life: Country Stores, Post Offices and Wharfs.”

Building upon the success of May Faire events of previous years, sponsored by the Mathews Museum, plans include expanded food and craft vendors and entertainment for 2025, the release said.

“We’ll have much of a county fair type of event, with the traditional photography and pound cake contests, the children’s corner, as well as our very special ‘Conversations’ event at the historic courthouse, where each year we have speakers who focus on various historic aspects of Mathews County,” May Faire 2025 co-chair Barbara Bass noted.

“We’ve also concentrated on expanding opportunities for vendors and members of the community to showcase their goods and services.”

Bass and co-chair Josie Thorpe both have years of experience in managing various county events, including involvement in every May Faire since the first one in 2017. “We’ll be inviting our Mathews residents to go back in time and submit photos and memories of life in Mathews when general stores, post offices and wharf activities were essential to our way of life,” Thorpe said. “We hope citizens will be sharing their stories which will be featured in our popular annual May Faire program. We will be announcing our committee meeting schedules soon, and are inviting community participation. Please check our website, www.mathewsvamuseum.org.”

May Faire is Mathews County’s spring heritage event, and is sponsored each year by the Mathews Museum, which will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2025.