Downtown Festival

Not surprisingly, Transylvania County celebrates Halloween in a big way.  The day begins with the Vampire Run with most participants in costume.  And all day long there are vendors, games, contests, activities and music in downtown Brevard.  We especially enjoy watching the children, most of them in costume.

This guy was moving so fast I didn't catch his full photo but I thought it was a great costume.

Only the bravest would enter the toy store (O.P. Taylor's) underneath this giant spider.

One of many Batman costumes.  He was obviously delighted to pose.

John Deere tractors for tots.  This little guy didn't even ask anyone to hold his binky.

Hunger Games quests abounded.  (Much of the action was filmed in our county.)  This was an archery target as the children tried the Hunger Games survival tactics.

The Great Pumpkin Roll began at the top of Jailhouse Hill.

(Wouldn't they roll better if the stems were removed?)

Despite the many children's activities, this little toddler was content to play with one of the cones.

I couldn't help but wonder how one distinguishes the relevant truths from the non-relevant ones.

I should have attended the services to find out.

I love going to these small-town festivities.  The folks are always so friendly.  It's nice to live a town where  several blocks in the center of town are closed to traffic so the people can party.

Our thoughts go out to those affected by the monster storm that is hitting our eastern coastal areas as well as affecting even more of our country.  Our weather here has turned winter-like overnight with high winds removing the last of the autumn leaves.  Our dogs love it and we don't mind.

Stay safe, everyone.

Small Town Festivals

Memorial Day kicks off our summer festival season.  Milwaukee had huge ones by the lakefront.  Ours may be small, but the festivals in Brevard are lots of fun.  In fact, we close off main street so many times you really need to know the detours if you want to travel through.  On the other hand, why would you want to travel through and not stop?

Our two largest festivals are the White Squirrel Festival held on Memorial Day weekend and Halloweenfest (since we are in Transylvania County).

Folks and vendors on Main Street looking West.

Two of these guard our really cool toy store.

(Its name is O.P. Taylor's.)

A new booth at the festival.

The Transylvania Tea Party

This little guy is 21 months old.

And yes, he could put up his feet and coast on it.

The Transylvania County Court House

at a surprisingly quiet moment.

The wreaths in honor of our war veterans.

Looking east on Main.

There are always activities for the children and a big White Squirrel Soapbox Derby down jailhouse hill.  Lots of young people build and race their cars.  We have separate races among the various downtown merchants.  They really go all out.

I go to all these festivals and love every one.  In Milwaukee we tended to avoid them because of the huge crowds.  At our festivals we have plenty of room to walk, to stop and to socialize.  Best of all...I have never once had anyone spill a beer on me.  If you want to experience that, go to Milwaukee's Summerfest.  The music is fantastic, the fireworks are among the best, but the crowds are loud and often obnoxious.  And occasionally you can catch the waft of smoke from the weed smokers, smoking grass on the non-seated grassy section of the amphitheater.  A good thing or a bad thing...just depends.

Fine, call me geezer.  That's why I live in the quiet mountains.

Close off the Streets and Dance!

Many mountain towns have street dances primarily to entertain the tourists and encourage them to shop downtown in the evenings.  They are usually Fridays and Saturdays...a peak time for tourists.

Brevard has street dances and while tourists are certainly welcome, the participants are primarily year-round residents.  Some of the people are really dressed up while others are more casual.  Our street dancing is held on Tuesday evenings.  Many people come to dance and others bring their chairs to enjoy the music and watch.  Young and old, folks just grab a partner and wait for the music to begin.

The two people with the blue tee shirts at the center of the picture are volunteers who will teach the square dance steps to anyone who needs a little help.  You have to love the variation in age.  Folks in their "senior" years dancing right alongside much younger folks.

 

The children make their own little group.

The bluegrass band and square dance caller.  They have a jug for donations, the only pay they receive.

Winding up that ball of twine gets a little confusing, especially for the children.

This little sweetie saw my camera and yelled, "Me next.  Me next."  She was delighted to see herself in the digital display and and yelled to her Granpa to come and look.

Main street is blocked off at the Courthouse Square in the center of town.  No, the camera is not at an angle.  The streets are hilly in the mountains.

This little girl really put her heart and soul into the dancing.  And yes, all the children in the mountains are above average and have curly hair.

This old geezer  older gentleman was eating, drinking sweet tea, smoking cigarettes and occasionally watching the dancers.  He was short of breath so in between smokes, he put on his nasal canula for his oxygen.  He had a beautifully carved walking stick on the table.  I don't know if the man across the table from him is a relative or a caretaker.  I didn't dare try to get a better photograph.  Something about the older gentleman's behavior made me feel he wouldn't like it very much.

The street dancing will end all too soon as summer wanes.  Our public schools will start next Monday.  Who knows where the time goes?  In Brevard we have danced the summer away.

Summer Kickoff

Among many other things, Memorial Day signals the official start of the tourist season in Transylvania County. In addition to honoring the lives of veterans, Brevard hosts the White Squirrel Festival every Memorial Day weekend.

I have previously written about the Brevard white squirrels here. Regular readers know my feelings about squirrels, so I will not elaborate. We have official mascots for the festival. Being a person not fond of any mascot costumes, I am naturally not at all fond of the white squirrel.

The festival runs for two days and includes various vendors selling their wares.

In addition to the "main" musicians, there are groups all along the sidewalks playing for the public.

Potters and other artisans demonstrate and display their work.

The streets are packed with people of all ages.

There are two Squirrel Box Derby races. One is for the kids and one for the local merchants.

Jailhouse Hill (yep, that's what we call it) is blocked off for the running of the Squirrel Box Derby.

This year the White Squirrel Festival set a world record for the most people dancing in white squirrel costumes. People were invited to dress in costume (at minimum a tail, ears, and whiskers) and dance for five minutes. You may think this is such a silly record to break. After all, how many people actually try for this one? Truth is, it's not the record that is important. The entry fee for dancing was two cans of food. So one of the local food pantries, the Bread of Life received a very large stock of food. And, yes, the record was broken and officially belongs to Brevard NC.

NOTE: All of the above photographs came from area newspapers. Alas, I did not go downtown for the festival. There's just something too creepy about all those squirrel costumes.