11:58 PM |
Heartburn. Headache. Whatever. I am freezing. I am leaving the Pumpkin Festival. Problem is, I can't find the place where Crystal will pick me up. Figure I better not call until I find it because that may be hours because everything looks the same. If I can find the ferris wheel in front of the church I'm in. Turns out there are three ferris wheels and the parade is still happening. I think I know which way to go more or less but I can't cross the street because the parade is still going on. There is a cop right there holding the crowds back. After 8 or 10 festival queen floats, lady with stroller makes a break for it. I do not have a stroller and I usually play by the rules. 2 marching bands. Remember when only two or three girls could be majorettes and the other less talented were flag girls? I was a majorette at Azalea Middle School. I think this is when middle school came to be. Before that we had junior high. I think it had something to do with busing i.e. desesegration. My parents thought going to double sessions i.e. 3 hours of school a day was insufficient. Went to private school and was forever scarred by a class of 22 mean teenagers. Anyhow, when I was a majorette, we wore gold sequined leotards and the school board felt that we should not be showing our crotches so we had a black band with fringe on it slung over our hips which ended up looking like, well use your imagination. Just to set the record straight, I was a talented bass clarinet player but had a rough time marching with it as it was bigger than me. Really. I used to play clarinet but my fingers didn't cover the holes so I got the bass clarinet which has keys with actual keys over them. Later my son took up bass clarinet but his school didn't have a band. My tininess disappeared when I was 13 and grew six inches that year. Really. More beauty queens. I decided to make the leap. Done.
Checked for pony ride. This will confirm pickup location. And there are the ponies! Called for ride. Dearest Crystal from Circle Cabs sent dearest Mike to pick me up. Mike knows I am freezing and arrived with heat on full blast. I like Ohio guys who give you a ride. It is $10. Mike has 3 kids and the littlest one is a girl and cute as a button. She is 3.
Hightail it to room. It is as far away from the ice maker as possible which is a very good thing because the ice maker sounds like a jumbo jet. Unfortunately, there is a screeching little car with manual transmission trying to park somewhere. And then decides on somewhere else. And then they are swarming. I girl with a big blue pickup with crap in the bad backs in twice. It is not any different the second time because the first try was perfect. More noise. Afraid for Woody. Afraid for what's in Woody because I still don't have the locks working perfectly. Try to sleep. Look out again. The big food concession trailers are pulling in parking lot. Oh shit. Carnies. They are tricky. Afraid again for Woody. Get up every five minutes to check. So far so good. Go back to bed. And then the train goes by. This was to happen several times during the night. I had planned to sleep until 10 in the morning because my eyes are still really red from driving and the damn Lasik. Didn't make it. Note to self: stay in hotels far from festivals.
So here we are at the Pumpkin Show. As this is Ohio it is very clean. You don't even get that greasy fair smell in your hair. This is one of many trash bins. This is the pony ride. The guy follows the ponies with a rake and gets that stuff up lickety split.
There are lots of fair staples. This is the rubber duckie game. This is the carousel.
This is the Pikaway Brass Band. I have a great rousing video of this but I still can't figure out how to get videos to upload. The people in the room next door in the Holiday Inn Express seemed to be very perturbed when I tried it out.
This is a row of folding chairs of the ilk that I enjoy and actually buy on eBay. There must be a parade. Check schedule. There are parades every day. Here are some of them:
- Little Miss Pumpkin Show
- Miss Pumpkin Show
- Baby Parade
- Parade of Bands
- Pet Parade
- Fraternal & Civic Organizations
Here are some floats that are ready to go but the pictures don't come out because everything is shiny and what with the flash and all. I did talk to a guy who had a sorta pop up one on his truck trailer. I wasn't his idea but it is very handy for the little ones.
Note to self: remember atlas with festivals printed in the front from now on.
Besides being a Pumpkin Show, I guess you could call this a pumpkin fair. And at fairs you eat. All sorts of really bad things for you, the epitome of which is a corn dog. This is the corn dog stand. I can't believe I passed. This is the steak on a stick stand which I also passed.
Now here is something I did not pass. It is Mike's Cheese Shack. They serve Wisconsin cheese curds. I do not know what a cheese curd is.
This is Jack Bobby. He is wearing a cheese hat and takes your order. Not sure what to get, ask people in line. This is Holly with her cheese curd. She says it is good. Holly is right. This stuff is deep fried in kinda a tempura batter and is unbelievably oily in a good way. Had to throw half of it out when I went to the Arts and Crafts part where they have quilts you can't touch with your greasy fingers. Also had a Dr. Pepper which I hid in my purse.
Lots of these food stands are for local charities. I especially liked the fried bologna one but as I can't eat everything, passed.
I had a pumpkin brownie (who doesn't like brownies?) and it as birthday cake icing is made of polyester, this brownie is made of latex. I cannot pull it apart.
There are lots of things that have very long lines. This is mini donuts which are sold at Lindsay's (sp?) too all year round but hey it's the Pumpkin Show. I know this because I asked someone.
This is the pumpkin taffy you can take home for mom. You can also get pumpkin fudge.
This is where you can get Pumpkin Walking Taco. I really want one of those. They are sold out.
So are pumpkin cupcakes.
There is a majorly long line for pumpkin ice cream so I just had to have some. They have only one compressor so it takes a very long time to get your ice cream made. They also have sundaes and I missed the boat on that one because they have caramel sauce with pumpkin pie spices and candied pecans.
Despite the gastronomic riches, there are no fat people in Circleville. Note to self: move to Ohio, throw out Four Hour Body and get skinny.
At the Pumpkin Show you can get prizes for stuff you didn't even make. This is competitive attic hunting. This is an incredible coverlet. This is a World War One uniform. Note to self: check attic and enter Pumpkin Show.
When I was in junior high, you had to take shop if you were a boy or that one weird girl, or home ec if you were a girl unless you were taking some majorly hard honors math class which is what I did. I am majorly bummed because I am good at sewing and cooking but whatever. Here in Ohio you can get ribbons for home ec. This is the ones from the littler kids.This is Harry Potter Pumpkin. And this is a stamped card like you can buy on Etsy.
This is old style embroidery that would look very good in Jennty
This tickles me for obvious reasons.
Moving right along, we have prize canned goods. This is they. I asked if there was one person that always wins. There is not.
This is the cut flower competition. Because this is the last day of the show, they all look like crap. At the Philadelphia Flower Show you need to refresh every day. A couple of guys looking at them note that people pay a lot of stuff for this. Especially the fake one. For decorating you know. Then they note the purple arrangement and shrug.
These are the prize-winning arrangements, commercial class and regular. Lots of garden clubs do the pumpkin thing. Didn't know it was prize winning. Note to self: do more pumpkin and flower arranging. Win prizes.
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