FFFour

The Forest Fair began on Friday, but the parade was on Saturday morning. They shut down our highway for an hour or so and our volunteer fire department leads the parade, with lights on all of their trucks and tankers flashing and the occasional horn blast.

Samuel was on The o> Shop float, clearly demonstrating his pride in wearing the ice cream suit (which was his idea in the first place). When asked about his 'victory' pose, he said he was an 'epic' ice cream cone. ??? Whatever kind he was, I thought he was cute.


Susannah came along shortly thereafter, twirling her baton with a couple of her friends. She's been taking 'lessons' from a local gal who had the girls working on a routine, but then this gal didn't follow through with organizing the girls for the parade. Susannah took it upon herself to get some girls to twirl and had a good time twirling her way down the street.



Jim and the babes rode along with the Lions Club float. Moriah was in the back of the blue truck, but she was on the far side and I missed getting her photo. I'm sure she was busy throwing candy to kids when this picture was taken. The little girls seemed to have fun being in their first parade.



Jim and the babes came home after the parade, but the three older kids all met up with friends and stayed at the fair for a while. Moriah and Susannah seemed to have a good day...they ate, they played, they bought stuff, they spent too much money, they strolled around and then they went and spent the night with their unicycling friend.

Samuel very sweetly came home by mid-afternoon so that Jim and I could head down before our shift in the t-shirt shack. We had heard that most of this year's Forest Fair 'souvenir' clothing was already sold, so we weren't sure how busy we'd be. Turns out that for the first time ever, the gal in charge of the clothing stuffs was taking orders for a select few items. She'd never sold virtually everything by Friday, and felt badly. It was good in a way, because it showed the support folks had for the fair returning this year. But it was bad, too, since so many people couldn't get what they wanted.

Our two-hour shift went quickly and was as fun as usual. I worked the cash register and Jim and another friend fielded requests for what was left and previous years' items. I always enjoy chatting with locals and visitors and love my time in the shack. You can see by my photo that I was quite enthusiastic about starting my shift.

If you work the t-shirt shack you get tickets for beer in the beer garden. I, of course, wouldn't be drinking the beer, but I took my two anyway. Jim, our friend and I all headed to the beer garden and the guys enjoyed their beers (including my two) as we chatted and listened to a local musician's band. A very pleasant way to end the evening.

Nothing else of note happened once we walked home, besides getting babies to bed. I'd like to say we watched fireworks, but we didn't. (I originally posted the same photo from my previous post...duh...forgot that I had already made my point about it being too light.)

We were back at the Fair today for a bit, primarily to hear a music group called Rogues and Wenches. The kids' music teacher is a wench and we wanted to hear them sing. They were great. Very entertaining and very bawdy. Thankfully, the double entendres weren't clear enough for younger kids to get. Jim, Betsy and I all walked around a bit afterwards so we could purchase a couple of things. I got some earrings that Jim will tell you look like paper clips. (They don't. Really.) Betsy found a small pottery pitcher. Jim found a potted plant combination that put him in mind of his long lost bonsai plant that I inadvertently killed. (oops!) And I found a necklace I liked that Betsy bought me as my early Christmas gift. Yay! (I also bought yet another chocolate chip raisin cookie. My third. Or fourth. Yum.)

All in all, a seemingly-relaxed three-day event with lovely weather, interesting booths, lively music and a little bit of everything for everyone.