Fall Fest 75

 

   This weekend is the annual Fall Fest in Sister Bay. It draws a lot of people in from all over. There is food, music, craft booths and a beer tent. All the elements necessary for a festival in Wisconsin. This year is special for two reasons. The first is that it was cancelled last year due to Covid. The second is that it is the 75th anniversary of the festival.

   C and I were looking forward to attending. Usually the festival is scheduled for the weekend we arrive in Door County. After we got settled in at the B&B yessterday, we drove over to Sister Bay. We walked by the craft booths and explored the food booths. We would have grabbed dinner there except that most of the booths were not open yet. The booth that sold roasted sweet corn had run out of food. 

   Today we left the B&B early because the parade is always on Saturday. You have to get there early so that you have a place to park and a place to watch the parade. As we approached downtown Sister Bay, C saw a small group of gentlemen from the American  Legion. He paused to ask them if they would have the booya booth this year. C loves booya, especially the booya at the American Legion booth. In 2019 C had to stettle for an inferior booya made by a local bar.  He was disappointed to find out that due to lack of workers, there would be no American Legion booya this year. 

   We could see that many had  already marked off their spots with blankets, quilts and lawn chairs,  We found a good spot on the street about an hour before parade time. It was on the shady side of the street and a bit cool, but it was wide open. Gradually as it got closer to parade time, more and more people came to our spot. Two women set up lawn chairs and two families with children gathered to either side of us. The children stood in front of us with grocery bags to collect the candy that would be thrown from many of the floats, 

   The parade always starts with the Scouts and the veterans carrying the flag. The veterans always march with rifles that they periodically shoot, (They use blanks and aim at the sky.) The firetrucks come next. Then the old firetrucks and one lone political candidate. Miss Wisconsin sat on the back of an open vehicle as beauty queens do. She had her tiny crown perched on her head and was looking very cold despite her long sleeved shirt and light jacket.

   There was a band of bagpipers, one lone school marching band from Green Bay and floats from local businesses. All of these floats had people throwing candy and the children scrambled to scoop it up. A few times the candy fell at my feet or C's. I would scoop it up and offer it to the nearest child. I went on the alert when the float with people throwing beads passed by. I always hope to catch a set of beads. A set of blue beads landed at my feet. I picked them up saying, This is the only thing I won't share with the kids." I put the beads around my neck and resumed watching the parade. 

   There were a few more pageant winners who had dressed a bit more warmly. I wondered how they managed to keep those tiny crowns on their heads with the wind blowing as it was. A float from a local farm market was throwing ping pong balls with prize coupons inside and passing apples out to the children. I kind of hoped we'd catch a ball as we were were planning to go to that market sometime during the week. No such luck.

   The parade was over and the children had collected a nice stash of candy. We wandered over to the food booths looking for some lunch. First place we went is to the roasted corn booth. C got an ear. It was dripping with butter and a bit cool. We shared it. Several local restaurants had set up stands on the street where they were serving food. We bound a pizza place that was offering huge slabs of pizza. It looked good. C got pepperoni and I had cheese. We each got a can of soda and found a bench to sit on while we ate. Once we finished a woman sitting next to us offered to take our paper plates to the garbage. Another woman was looking for a place to sit. We offered her our side of the bench as we were done eating.

   This is what I love about this part of the country. This would never happen where we live. For some reason, people in Door County just seem to be really nice. I felt at home and safe among the crowds milling around eating and drinking. 

   After we are we looked around the craft booths again. I looked at the booths, but also at the array of dogs that were around. All of them were very well behaved in the crowd. Only a few pulled at thier leashes to get at a nearby dog. 

   I found a booth selling various aroma therapy sprays. I've been looking for a good pillow spray to help with my insomnia. The blend they had smelled good and was not toot expensive. I bought a bottle. C was starting to feel the cold a little and wanted to get a hot chocolate. We were trying to find a booth that sold non alcoholic drinks. C decided to go into a restaurant and see if he could get something. I waited outside as there were a lot of people in there. After several minutes he came out with two paper containers. He handed one to me and I took a sip. It was perfect and not too hot.

   After we finished out drinks we decided to head back to the B&B, We walked through a large  crowd listening to the rock band that was playing at one end of the street and headed up the hill and back to our car. 

   We paused in out climb up the hill to look back at the crowd. It was in constant motion. Some were moving to the music. Other were walking in small groups with drinks in hand. Teens had formed circles and were talking to each other. Women were pushing children in strollers. Everyone seemed happy.  We were happy too.