This morning we grabbed Eli's Aunt Jennifer for good company and ventured to the small town of Winterville. Today was their annual Marigold Festival. It has been many years since I last attended, so I didn't remember there was a parade. We arrived just as the procession started and unwittingly found a spot that made Eli the first kid on the route. As such, he was soon barraged by candy and trinkets thrown from floats. I had to run back to the car for a bag to hold all the loot -- a Frisbee, a Beanie Baby puppy, stickers, and more candy than he got last Halloween!
Riding the Marigold Train was a highlight...
We did many fun things from watching dogs run obstacle courses to playing on the playground to shopping at the booth market. But tonight when we listed our blessings at bedtime, Eli remembered the treats the most.
When we first arrived at the festival, Eli pointed and exclaimed, "Oh, Mama! There are those bags I want to try!" Sigh. His eyes were aglow over cotton candy. The mama in me says, "Ugh! Just sugar!" (Oh. Wait. I guess it isn't just sugar because you have to count the artificial coloring!) But a treat found only at festivals and baseball games isn't going to turn him into a sugar junkie. After a decent lunch, Eli got his bag. After he pulled off a tuft and put it in his mouth, his expression crumpled. "Mama, it's hairy!"
Eli quickly abandoned his cotton candy and instead cozied up to me because I was eating homemade ice cream. There was a stand at the festival selling cones and cups of ice cream from an antique oak churn rotated by an chugging antique engine. I was mesmerized.
And the ice cream? Soft, flecked with ripe peach, and full of fresh flavor.
A good time was had by all! (And most of the parade candy went home with Aunt Jennifer to be redistributed to all the cousins.)
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