In January of this year,  the Friends of Wendemuth Meadow, a motley crew of concerned citizens (I include myself among them), began planning a major event as the capstone of our campaign to raise funds for the purchase of Wendemuth Meadow, a 30 acre tract of land on Bates Street in North Brookfield.  We discussed a number of ideas and settled on a festival celebrating art and music and everything that adds color to our lives.  Thanks to the energy, enthusiasm, and hard work of Brandon Avery and Janine Drake, co-chairs of the North Brookfield Color Fest Committee, the event was a resounding success.

At 10 this morning, I drove into the lot at the Time-Out on 31 East Brookfield Road (the former Chooch’s bar).
For most of the day, in fact, until almost 5:30 when we began closing, I was at the Friends table, in a booth with both the East Quabbin Land Trust and the Color Fest Committee.  We talked to fair-goers, handed out literature, sold T-shirts, and collected donations.  In the photo below, Cynthia Henshaw, East Quabbin Land Trust Executive Director, sets up the display:
In between, I found some time to enjoy the festivities.  The festival attracted many vendors who sold their wares, all in accord with the theme, like this one:
There was food and drink of course, and I treated myself to ice cream.  I also made sure to step inside the bar, where I admired the works by local artists in the art show and perused items in the silent auction (I bid on two items and won one).

There was lots of music, with local bands showcasing their talents:

At the other end of the lot was a drumming circle:

A friend decided on a henna tattoo, which I liked so much I got one myself (I tried taking a photo of my arm so you could see the design, but the photo didn’t do it justice):

The color throws took place in the afternoon.  Don’t these guys look great?

Note that the colored powder we sold is made of cornstarch and FDA-approved cosmetic-grade dyes.  It is an environmentally friendly product, non-toxic, biodegradable, and skin-safe.  Here’s another group of colorful fair-goers:

At the back of our booth, you can see our fund-raising thermometer, climbing toward the $50,000 goal, which we reached this afternoon!

I’m so glad we could do this, both to meet our fund-raising goal and to bring our community together for fun and festivities.  We thank our sponsors, the Statz Restaurant and Sports Bar and the North Brookfield Cultural Council; heartfelt thanks as well to the many volunteers who made the day a success.

My niece had never been, so when I suggested that I take a day off from work and we could visit the Big E, she readily agreed.  Hence this morning shortly after 9, we headed out to the Massachusetts State Fair held annually in September at the exposition grounds in West Springfield.  On a good day, the drive should take less than an hour, but as we approached the fairgrounds on Route 147, we were quickly enmeshed in traffic. I had thought we could park close to the gate, but when we saw a sign for $5 parking in the Debbie Wong restaurant lot, we pulled off the road and got out.  It was only a short walk to the Gate 9 entrance, and by 10:30, we were in.

I think this is a carousel organ, but I’m not sure.  The Big E does own a Stinson Fairground Band Organ which we also saw, but this is a different one.

At 11 am, we found ourselves at the Court of Honor Stage and sat down to watch Hilby, the Skinny German Juggle Boy, perform. I thought he was pretty amazing (think bowling ball, knife, hedge trimmer, on a unicycle), and also very funny.  My niece thought some of his gay jokes were distasteful, but I didn’t feel this way — maybe you had to be a male homosexual to feel slighted.

By noon, we had made our way to Avenue Showplace, the venue for circus performer Tina Winn’s high-wire act.

Here Galaxy Girl begins her climb.  Just watching, my hands and feet got sweaty.  After all, she performs without a safety net.

She has reached the trapeze seat at the 100 foot mark.

Here she is at the top of the apparatus, 120 feet up. We watched her perform a handstand!

By the end of this act, we were hungry, so we decided to try the Samuel Adams Brew Garden, because it was right there.  We sat down outside, but under a canopy to shade ourselves from the strong sun, and enjoyed a light lunch.  The service was excellent and the food wasn’t bad at all.

Next on the agenda was the Avenue of the States, at the Gate 1 side of the fairgrounds, which I always enjoyed in the past.  We started at one end and went from state to state, until we had navigated our way through all six states.  Today was Massachusetts Day, by the way.

Reversing direction now, we stopped in the Coliseum and sat down to watch some kind of American Saddlebred equestrian competition.  I’m still not sure what we were watching, perhaps five-gaited, or three-gaited, or equitation. A single horse and rider performed to music, the routine showcasing the horse’s various gaits and the rider’s control of the horse.  Can anyone confirm what this was?  This horse and rider, one of maybe five we saw, performed to “Jail House Rock.”

Next door to the Coliseum is the Stroh Building, which houses the Farm-A-Rama. I love seeing the Clydesdales.  (Wasn’t the 2013 Super Bowl Budweiser commercial amazing?) The horse in this photo was born in England.

There was a crowd around a mama pig and her piglets, but my photo of them came out blurry, and I deleted it. Here is a contented sheep instead. It probably weighs as much as the pig (sorry, family joke).

We also saw chicks hatching out of their shells, but I think some of them in the display were actually dead.  This baby alpaca is only two weeks old and, fortunately, still alive.

We made a quick dash through the Better Living Center, because I like to watch the product demonstrators. But when it got to be overwhelming, we left for our last stop, the Mallary Complex.

Everyone is fascinated by the Butter Sculpture. Two craftsmen were carving the butter as we watched.

Because today was a transition day, there weren’t as many animals inside the Complex as there would be on other days.  But we did see quite a few cows, which are my personal favorite.  They are such huge animals but generally quite placid.

By this time, we were both ready for a snack, so we quickly made our way back to the Vermont pavilion and each chose a small dish of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. It was delicious!

Then we headed back towards the entrance.  Right next to the gate the Wine and Cheese Shoppe beckoned, and we popped in. There was a long line for the wine tasting, but rather than wait, we simply made a note of the Massachusetts vineyards which are participating this year.

Now, no one should leave the Big E empty-handed, right?  So the very last thing we did was accept some free samples from the Science Diet pet food company.  My cat prefers dry to wet food, and this will be a special treat for him.

It was shortly after 4 pm when we called it a day and ambled back to the car. There was no way I was going to make a left turn onto 147 from where we were parked, so we continued west on 147 until we could turn at the first set of traffic lights back toward the river. I think I might have taken 75, then 57, back to Route 5 North, then I-91, but I’m not sure. At any rate, as soon as we left the vicinity of the fairgrounds, the traffic thinned out and we had an easy ride home, even through Springfield’s rush hour.  I’m glad we chose to go on a week day, because the fair was not jam-packed with people like it usually is on the weekends.  Instead, the weather was great and the crowds mellow and manageable.