Taking Charge » Spencer Picnic

Parade Day

tyralyn — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:07:50 +0000

Saturday the 16th was the Parade. I didn’t go last year, which I regretted afterward, so no matter how horrible I felt that morning, I got up, got dressed and we went.

I’m glad we did because while we sat waiting for the parade to start, I commented to Rob that I didn’t see anyone that I knew. He told me to turn around and see who was coming out of the store, so I did and lo and behold it was someone that I hadn’t seen since more than to pass each other in the store briefly since 1995. I was excited and extremely happy to stand and talk to him and catch up. I got his email address, but he’s not replied to me yet. I’m okay with that, since I didn’t figure that he would. I would have liked to have been able to get together with him and have a real catch up session, but I’ll be glad for the 10 or so minutes and the hug that I got that morning.

The parade itself was pretty uneventful, outside of one of the cars breaking down halfway through the parade, across from where we were sitting. The floats were very very well done, and there are 140 pictures in my picasa album if you want to check them out. I definitely enjoyed myself and don’t regret crawling out of bed early to go. It wasn’t hot at all, in fact it was pretty chilly in the shade. I was glad when the sun started to hit, even tho it made taking pictures difficult.

In a sense, I’m already looking forward to next year, but I know 2 years from now will be amazing, because it will be the 100th year.

Fireworks

tyralyn — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:38:34 +0000

So in my last post, I was talking about Spencer Picnic and their music, now we’ll talk about the fireworks. The night of the fireworks was a bit chilly, which is quite unusual. Usually it’s only chilly when it’s rained at some point during that week, but we had no rain for over a week.

We sat in the car waiting for them to start and they started off with the flag wall, national anthem and such. They had a beautiful display, as always, and actually had a few surprises, including a few sprays. Sounded like machine gun fire and was this beautiful multi-color spray. At one point, they set off these ground fireworks that were unique. They sent up this like giant fireball or mushroom cloud. It let off enough heat that as far back as we were, we could feel it.

They had a longer display, it was definitely better than the last few have been. Hopefully it will only continue to get better. It’s funny, for such a small event, the crowd it draws seems to always be into it. But really, it’s the only major event we have that’s free. It’s also when a lot of the families get together, it’s the family reunion event. A lot of people shun the event, including me for a few years, but I still went and I will continue to go.

Spencer Picnic

tyralyn — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:49:45 +0000

2 Weeks ago was the annual Spencer Picnic and yes, I’m finally getting around to posting about it. We go every year. I haven’t missed a year that I can remember, honestly. I even worked it one year.

This year, they had a bit of a different line-up and their entertainment Friday night was the George Kaye band. They play country music, they’re not too bad, but I’ve heard much better. We listened for a while then got bored and wandered around a bit, played some games, enjoyed the cool evening. When it got later on in the evening, we headed back to where we had parked at the edge of the park to wait for the fireworks to begin.

I didn’t take many pictures. I didn’t bother with any on the grounds, especially since the batteries in my camera were starting to fade and I wanted to make sure they didn’t totally die on me. My favorite, however, is one that I took with the camera on sepia. I played around with the settings some and just absolutely loved the way this looked.

The one thing I don’t understand is where some people get the energy they have. I’ve noticed that the crowd for Music in the Park and for the music at Spencer Picnic was much the same, an older crowd, really. Some of them seem to have more energy than the young kids. One couple was celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary and they were dancing up a storm. It’s amazing. I wish I had the energy they do.