Meet me at the fair

So, Thursday evening, after I attended to all the beasties in our many houses (and got soaked to the skin in the process of returning Rizzo from his playground/yard to his home), I made my way to the fairgrounds, to meet up with my friend and classmate, Janet.
(click any photo for larger view)

For the record, the rains stopped just as I got Rizzo indoors.

For the further record, I'm not a big fan of the midway activities. When I go to the fair, I like to stop at the tents and booths, and to see whatever shows they have scheduled.

I don't generally ride the rides or play the games.

I leave that stuff for those who will genuinely enjoy them.

Instead, Janet and I managed to arrive only a few minutes after the start of the performance by Mad Chad Taylor, the chain saw juggler.

Taylor managed to entertain a modest audience, including the WCPBF Princess and her court -- he worked 2007 Princess Jane Lovdahl into his act...
and a couple of strapping young men

before he cleared the stage and brought out the chain saws.

The show was a success (for all that it had so small a crowd). Afterward, I was out of energy and inclination to stay around the fairgrounds, so I made my way back to the car (parked at the back of the midway), and gave one last glance back before coming home to the beasties.

See also: DRA coverage of "Mad Chad" Taylor's performance. The last four grafs give an idea of what we, by arriving just a tad late, stumbled into the middle of... juggling ex-jugs!?!

Soggy parade (part deux)

So, the rains came in earnest, and the folks in the parade were real troupers

Sticking it out, hoping for the next break in the rains to be the one long enough for everybody to finish the show...

Even IL State Representative Rich Myers bore with it in fairly good humor...

But I'm betting these kids wished their church had built an ark, instead of this float.

Still, my favorite part of any parade in town is

always going to be the Highlanders...

er, rather...

the Monmouth College Pipe Band (I don't know if I can adapt to all the changes since my antediluvian terms of scholarship).

At least the WCPBF Princess court had appropriate transportation:

and Jane Lovdahl handled the moisture with considerable grace

But I'm not so sure about the rest... they had bumbershoots, the cheaters! ;-)

Harding Elementary School, I think, was tossing out mardi gras beads from the back of a soaking wet truck bed...

And the IL home Extension groups were pretty soggy, as well...

As was the 4-H float.

But the crowds, and the participants, seemed to thin out as the rains became progressively heavier.

I stayed long enough to see the Monmouth College Marching Band finally stomp through... Nice to see they no longer have to march in their jammies.

Not the most flattering, but perhaps the more appropriate "majorette" uniforms...

These guys really rock, for a group still new to the college. The music department should be proud.

And with the arrival of these twirlers came the heaviest of the rains.

I was sopping wet, and I was afraid my camera -- not designed for immersion -- would give up the ghost if I let it stay out in the worst of it, so I went home. I hope I was one of a very few... but the pouring rains didn't stop until 6:00, a full hour after they started.

Some day, I will invest in a rain suit, maybe one like the Gorton's Fisherman wears. For the camera. Me, I like getting soaked to the skin. Even on parade day.

Why you rainin' on my parade?

(click on any image for larger view)

Last evening at 5 o'clock, the Warren County Prime Beef Festival Parade was scheduled to start with a fly-over by some of the National Steerman Foundation members' planes visiting the region for their annual fly-in. They had arrived by Monday afternoon, landing at the Galesburg Airport...

Tom Lowe, Founder of organization, does a few low passes over the airstrip.

and practicing their maneuvers for not just the parade fly-over, but several other events, as well. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't terribly accommodating.

At first, it didn't look so bad out there... just a little cloud cover.

The forecast had said "showers toward late evening." I dunno about you all, but around here, 5 p.m. isn't hardly even late afternoon, let alone late evening. And, yet,

It rained on the cross-country runners whose last member to cross the finish line at the city square marked the start of the parade. Meanwhile, seven blocks down from the center of town, we waited.

Wetly. But still excited.

At last, the police car and the American Legion honor guard came by.


Then the grand marshal, and a carload of dignitaries with an idea of how to ride in a convertible in a parade...

Then came the fire trucks and other emergency vehicles

With Smokey Bear (I think he's been dieting, and his ears have gotten much bigger with age... I mistook him for a hungry mouse, at first).


Then the Monmouth-Roseville High School marching band... looked and sounded pretty good. The new uniforms must have helped morale.

Our Junior High School band wasn't too awful, either. For a bunch of early teens whose parents often make them play an instrument "for their own good." Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?) I only heard them from afar. By the time they reached my block, they were marching cadence. I guess the rain kind of fills up those wind instruments too quickly and makes the sound a little iffy.


More to come... But don't worry, it's not going to go on all day.