Summer, the season of festivals is upon us

Ahh, summer, the season of sunshine, warm breezes, lots of ice cream and festivals!

Yes, the community festival season is upon us. There are more than 600 festivals held in our state each year, according to the Indiana Festival Association. So, if you missed one, there are plenty more to enjoy this summer. 

Why go to Indiana’s festivals (don’t forget the county fairs and the Indiana State Fair)?

There are more reasons than you can shake a buttered ear of sweet corn at (one of my favorites.)

Yes, there is the food, glorious food. OK, I admit some fair food can only be judged as that -- fair but there are lots of good choices too. Locally grown beef and pork come to mind. There is the afore mentioned sweet corn. Years ago, I indulged in deep fried vegetables. (Doesn’t the fact they are vegetables outweigh the fact they are fried in fat and then covered with a drizzle of Ranch dressing?)

There are more reasons. I always learn something about commerce in our Hoosier state when I attend a festival or fair. 

The most important reason to go is to see old friends!

I enjoy attending the animal shows and looking around at the crowd. There are always folks there I have known for years but maybe haven’t seen in almost as many years!

Contrary to what too many people practice, “Man does not live by Facebook alone” and God did not create the Internet on the eighth day. 

We humans are social animals and we need social contact. 

I can think of no better way to mingle with friends than to see them at the local fair or festival. 

Where else can you just visit without having someone “organize” it? In church, you usually have a short time before, between or after services to visit. That is even true of school and when you are in college, you are pretty much limited to your own age group. When you are 18 that is cool but when you get to be 40, 50, 60, you realize every age group has something to offer. 

And, for the most part, the people who get out to go to the festivals are relatively healthy, so you probably won’t be inundated with your friend’s medical history, unless you ask about it. You may see some of those battery powered scooters but after being on my feet for hours at a time, I have thought the folks riding in them were to be envied not pitied!

Yes, summer is upon us and isn’t it great we live where we do instead of way up north where the summers are considerably shorter than here in Indiana? 

Time to celebrate the Fourth and friends again

We spent a pleasant evening at Forest Park in Brazil, Ind., tonight.
Wednesdays are some of my days off currently. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The other days are spent in Montgomery County, working for the Journal Review. I love my job but we put our house on the market more than a year ago and it hasn't sold (yes it is priced right, compared to nearby homes), I really appreciate not having to make that Wednesday round trip of 100 miles to the office.
What do I do? Well, the plan is to spend Wednesdays working on my free-lance writing that made it possible for usto be in the ministry when the kids were young.
I'm working on a novel that is shaping up to be Mayberry meets Petticoat Junction meets Lum 'n Abner. A quick Google search will fill you in if those names aren't familiar.
That is the plan. Today did not go according to plan.
A week or so agao I tangled with (and got tangled up in) some poison ivy while picking up broken pieces of brick to fill in a hole behind our big garage.
A day or so later I started itching. By Tuesday night I was a mess and Linda insisted I go to the doctor. She even called in for the appointment.
The doctor recoiled when she saw my red blotchy arms.
I was given a shot containing steroids.
I thought steroids were for building muscle.
She warned me my appetite would increase, but I certainly didn't plan to go out and lift weights.
I did stop itching and I became pretty sleepy. I think that may have been caused by lack of sleep for the past several nights.
So I took it easy today. Joe (our yellow Lab) and I napped in the morning.
In the afternoon I tried to write but was too spacy.
In the evening we drove the few blocks over to Forest Park to eat supper.
We ran into so many friends we've made in the past eight years we have lived here.
We saw Virgil and Mary Jo Butts.
There was a lady Linda works with at the bank and another lady who retired from the bank.
I talked to Mr. Schopmeyer who is active in politics through Indiana Farm Bureau at the Statehouse. We chatted about the recent Indiana budget impasse.
We visited with a new Rotary member as we bought our tickets for the big $10,000 giveaway after the fireworks Saturday.
We visited with Lynsey Lunsford, one of the two Edward Jones financial advisors in town I used to work with. We visited with the Browns who helped start the annual Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Festival, honoring on e of Clay County's native sons.
We visited with Todd Brackman who rns the local cable system and with Jesse Walker who does the weather on WTWO-TV 2 in Terre Haute. Jesse wrote a daily column for The Brazil Times for a number of years when I was the editor there.
We visited with Sheriff Mike Heaton, who is running for re-election next year and who then wants to become a teacher and coach after retiring from the sheriff's department.
We met a couple from Greencastle who are spending their retirment years selling ice cream from a trailer at various events like the Brazil Rotary 4th of July Celebration.
Darrell Taylor, if you ever read this, she said she practically raised you when you were growing up.
When I was very small, Mom always took me to the county fair in Winamac each year.
I tried to be patient while Mom and Grandpa Zellers walked through the barns, admiring the entries and visited with their old friends.
I loved the midway and the rides.
Now I am beginning to understand how important old friends are.
Whenever I cover a big event like a county fair or the Shelley Drain meeting in Crawfordsville, I always see old friends like Rita Hamm and Dick Munro -- people I met through work or through volunteer organizations.
People are the best part of summer or any of the other seasons.