I Am Not A Camel…

With the hot weather (I hope) approaching, it’s time to consider water! Walking a festival, especially a large one, can be hard work and made worse when it’s hot! The Nomad can work up a terrible thirst, after all he’s (me) not a camel! When I get dehydrated I need water, lots of it, so I need to have water available at all times. Going without water is not an option. So, I either have to buy water when I get to a festival or I have to bring some. Fortunately most festivals and events, these days, provide lots of places to purchase water. That being the case, I normally do a combination of both. I bring one or two bottles and then purchase more if it is needed. One thing that is happening in the world today is the “GREEN” effect. Most everyone is concerned about their imprint on the world and I am no different. Plastic water bottles are starting to become a big concern and a lot of festivals are now considering alternatives. I attended a seminar a few months ago and the speaker, the Manager of the Hillside Festival in Guelph, was talking about her festival and how they were trying to change the habits of their visitors. Their solution was to sell empty “Hillside Festival” refillable bottles and then provide a large tank of drinking water where attendees could fill their bottles for free. Not only does this help eliminate plastic bottles, it’s a heck of a good promotion for the Hillside Festival. I hope more festivals and events follow their led! In this vain, Judi and I were in a grocery store the other day and saw refillable bottles for sale. They were great because they had a carrying shoulder strap. We purchase two for ourselves and encourage others to do the same. Hopefully festivals will see the “GREEN” light and provide drinking water. After all, I am not a camel…

A Role In The Hay

I had never really thought about it before, but festivals and hay ride and wagons were made for each other! Of the 50 plus festivals we have visited, over 15 have had some sort of wagon transportation. Festivals used them for a variety of different reasons, shuttle service, entertainment, sight seeing and general transportation. Different modes of locomotion are used, horse power, tractors and trucks. All have one thing in common, fun! Perhaps the wagon takes us back to our roots, to gentler times, where transport was slow but the scenery was beautiful and the smells were intoxicating. I am sure you all have your own memories of “Hay Rides Past”, but I thought I would tell you some of mine. Our first hay ride adventure was during our first Ontario Festivals Visited event, the Elmvale Maple Syrup Festival. After visiting the first maple sugar farm on the tour, we were transported to the next farm on one of two horse drawn hay wagons being used for that purpose. The air was crisp, so the mist from the horses’ nostrils was visible. Although the trip was not very long, the joy of the open aired wagon ride was evident on the faces of our fellow travelers! The tractor pulled wagon ride at the International Plowing Match took us from the parking lot to the festival grounds. The ground was very uneven and we were all standing up, weaving back and forth and holding on the wagon’s bars for dear life. I felt like a prisoner being transported to the gallows! The wagon ride at the Bala Cranberry Festival was much gentler. A tractor pulled two covered wagons around the ground of the cranberry marsh. As we traveled through the marsh, the tractor driver pointed out areas of interest. The Waterford Pumpkinfest wagon ride transported visitors from one festival venue to another. The wagon ride carried us through the Town of Waterford, giving us a wonderful opportunity to discover the charms of this beautiful little town! At the Lang Pioneer Village’s “Christmas By Candlelight” I was able to watch my grandson climb onto the horse drawn wagon that was going to take them around the villages square. They all sang Christmas carols along the way! In Brighton, at the Brighton Winterfest, horse drawn wagons crossed the ice covered bay to take visitors to the “Tyke Pond” Hockey Tournament. The horse drawn wagon ride at the Bruce’s Mill “Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival” took us into the heart of their Sugarbush. On the ride back a father and his baby quietly slept to the rhythm of the turning wheels!
And finally, on our latest tractor pulled wagon ride at one of the Maple In The County Sugarbush participants, we traveled down a long lane from the parking area to the Sugarbush and Pancake Breakfast. During the trip the temperature was below zero and there was a chilling breezing. I think the attitude of the passenger next to me summarized all of our wagon adventures. Her comment to me as she first sat down next to me was “It’s great to have this many people so close, we will all keep warm.” and as we moved along, we all chatted comfortably as old friends.

Soap Box Derby Racing…

The wind in your hair! The sun beating down on your face! The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat! This time we were at the Frankford Riverfest. We had walked past a stack of hay bales to the finish line. The Frankford Riverfest Soap Box Derby was about to begin. You could see the excitement on the faces of the Moms and Dads as they waited for their sons or daughters to come charging down the hill! All the hours of hard work building and designing the definitive Soap Box were coming down to this! This is a scene that is typical of most of the Soap Box Derbies we have visited. The determination in the eyes of the racers, no matter how young or old is always there! I can remember one race that we visited where two racers were coming down the hill side by side. Suddenly the wheels of the racer on the left started to wobble! Others in the crowd saw it too! You could see the determination of the young girl as she fought to regain control! Try as she might, the Soap Box finally took over and veered off course and ran into the hay bales at the side of the road! There was panic in the eyes and voices of the on looking crowd. No one knew if the driver was okay. Two paramedic, who had been stationed part way down the hill, rushed to the accident site! After refusing the paramedics help, the girl stood up, shook the hay off her clothes, pulled the Soap Box back onto the road, climbed in and continued down the course to the finish line! The crowd cheered and applauded the girl’s efforts and where grateful that the racer had survived the crash! Such is the world of Soap Box Derby racing where little heroes are made!

Where To Go… What To Do…

As I have mentioned previously, Judi and I are planning on visiting between 75 and 80 Ontario festivals, events and attractions! So far, with unpredictable weather and some personal commitments, we have only been able to visit 9. This leaves 66 to 71 events left to visit in 2008. To put that into perspective, we have 37 weeks left and about 70 events to visit. That means we have to average 2 per week over the next 37 weeks! So much for the math! Here’s our dilemma, most festivals and events take place during the summer and fall months. That means there are a lot to choose from during those months and we have had a great number of requests from festival and event organizers to visit their event. There are so many great and interesting festivals and events, its hard to decide which ones to visit! The problem is we want to visit them all! But, of course, we can’t, so we have to make some choices. In doing this we have to take into consideration timing (month-day-times) and distance. Distance, as I have mentioned before, is important because we need to visit more than one event per week. I thought we would have some fun and let you help us decide which festivals, events and attractions we should visit during the peek months. So, over the next 4 weeks I am going to publish a monthly list of possible events, etc. to choose from. To view the list simply go to the Ontario Festivals Visited website (http://www.ontariofestivalsvisited.ca/) and click onto “NOMAD CONTEST”. When making your choices, please take into consideration timing and distances plus your personal experiences, and then let us know what festivals and events you think we should visit! E-mail your choices to nomad@ontariofestivalsvisited.com. From all the responses, we will draw one name and award a “Nomad Prize” to that person! Once we have made our final schedule, we will publish it in the free monthly Ontario Festivals Visited newsletter, “Festival Notes”. If you don’t already subscribe to our newsletter, click here (http://www.ontariofestivalsvisited.ca/form.htm) to order.