Yeap, I went. I left my house about 2:30 to take the 30 minute ride to the community college. The rain had stopped at my house, but I passed through a few sprinkles on my ride. Nothing major and the sky looked pretty good in the direction I was going. The balloons were to lift off about 6, and since there wasn't much else there I wanted to see, I figured I'd get there and walk around a bit first. I mean, since I was going. There were quite a few folks there, no doubt locals. Tent after tent lined the walk ways. Or did the tents define the walks? Anyway, crafts, jewelry, knick knacks, and local merchants. A combination between a craft show and flea market. It was interesting, but nothing yelled out at me to purchase it. Every few tents there was a little food trailer set up. Sugar waffles, hot dogs, pizza, some of the local Amish making homemade ice cream. You name it, it was there. Just like you'd see at a fair. I had better plans for dinner. LOL My sister had called and invited me back to her house for streak and crab legs. :)
I walked around a bit and then heard rumblings of the parade. Ok, that sounded cool. LMAO!! Uhhh huh... so I headed over to the path. I passed a petty 'farm' on the way. Most animals were behind a fence and to be honest they stunk! Hay and grass stuck in their fur, they looked matted, and I was not impressed at all. I'm sure they were well kept but they didn't look like it. I wonder if PITA has ever looked into them? The onlycreature not behind the fence was the turkey. He strutted his stuff and walked among the nearby crowd. He constantly sucked in air to make his chest puff out, and what a weird sound that is! Ever hear it?
It wasn't long before the roadway was lined with people. Sitting in bleachers provided, on blankets, or in their own chairs. The parade began around then bend and I found a spot near the end (or beginning ) so I could be one of the first and not have to worry about strangers in the shots. I thought for sure there'd be at least a couple floats to get pictures of. So off they come... well... I wish I had ear plugs. I swear every fire dept in a 35 mile radius was there with multiple trucks and/or vehicles. You know each one had to set off the sirens, blow their horns. Make some noise. Not one was driven by some young hunk. They were all old, I mean really old. Like the brought back the retired guys to drive. The passengers were mostly woman or children throwing candy out the windows as they passed by. Hmmmm where were those calendar guys????? Some marchers went by, but you could tell they didn't care. No straight backs or crisp steps. Instead they almost danced to the 'left, left, left, right, left' that was hollered out. Politicians looking for votes. And of course some clowns, and a silly band. A long parade of virtually nothing. The locals seemed to love it, and the kids had bags of candy when it was over.
When the parade was over everyone headed towards the open field. On the way I found many kites in the air. I decided to grab a couple shots. They were very pretty in the sky and bounced and spun around. As I stood there, I started thinking about how windy it really was. The breeze was a savior in the heat and humidity. The longer I stood there the more I knew the balloons would not go up. Conditions have to be perfect, and winds over 10 MPH prove to be unsafe with the flame. Not one was pulled out into the field. Nothing looked to be happening. It was about 6:15 or so when the crowd started to break up. Leaving with many a grumble. I've been a bit sarcastic in my entry here, but it was ok. I was outside and enjoying.......... Yeap, I was disappointed. Extremely!! I went to see hot air balloons and I got turkeys, clowns, and kites.
Hugs
~d
