Friday, October 18, 2013

Bands, Firetrucks and Cotton Candy

This is Rice Festival weekend. The Rice Festival is held every year in October in the town of Crowley, LA and it's a pretty big event. There are live concerts, fair rides/games/food, and parades. Today was the children's parade and all the area marching bands, schools and organizations that wanted to participate were there. It wasn't so big as to be overwhelming for my husband who is not a big fan of crowds but large enough for my girls to get a good taste of the parade atmosphere. One of my son's friends (who we've sort of grafted into our family as our second son) plays a drum for one of the local high schools so we got to see him marching and playing his drum. What fun!
 Our youngest wants to be a fireman when she grows up. She's always excited to see anything related to firefighting and fire safety. She was very happy to see the firetruck coming down the street, though I caught her as she was turning to look at me with my phone for the picture. Oops... :) She was also excited when she saw a fire hydrant. Can you say 'obsessed with firefighting'? *chuckle*
 Our girls had never gotten a chance to eat cotton candy and I told them last year we'd try to make it out to the festival so they could get a taste. It didn't happen last year for some reason. So this year, we managed to get them out there. And this is what they did with the cotton candy after their first couple of bites. Smart girls, eh? I'm pretty sure it's better for you to use cotton candy this way. :D
I hope you've enjoyed the photos. A little more info about the rice festival might be in order. Why celebrate rice? Well, it's one of the major crops of the area. While I don't like the massive amounts of chemicals our local farmers use, nor the type of seed they use, it is their livelihood. Getting a bunch of Cajuns to change their minds about something they believe in firmly or something that's been tradition for a long time is almost impossible but I can guarantee you will get nowhere trying to push new beliefs on them while condemning their current practices, no matter how much scientific evidence you provide. I can say this, though. They do what they do with all their hearts and they do it to the best of their abilities. I can definitely give them kudos for that. We celebrate their efforts and one of the crops that pays the bills. It's just a bit of time out from all that hard work to let loose and enjoy fun and laughter with family and friends. There are also contests, like rice eating contests. There is usually a large area where artists and small business owners are able to set up their booths to sell their goods. There is so much to see and do at the Rice Festival. You should definitely stop by if you ever get the chance.

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