Monday, July 02, 2007

"Blackberry Festival"

Several times lately, we had seen an advertisement for a blackberry festival in the town of McLoud (about 65 miles away). Last Friday we decided to take a drive up there and get some blackberries to finish out our jelly making adventure. We got there and looked and looked and looked some more and believe it or not there was not a blackberry in sight. They did have a small town carnival set up, booths with different food items that did not in the wildest imagination look, smell or taste like a berry. I have spent the last three days trying to figure this out. Maybe once upon a time they used to have berries in that area. Or maybe just maybe with the surrounding towns having watermelon festivals, peach festivals, kolache festivals, and yes even rattle snake festivals, they just got the idea to have a blackberry festival. Come to think of it we couldn't find a kolache either. Don't know about the rattlesnake festival, we weren't dumb enough to go to that one. Just be our luck that they would actually have the blasted snakes! Don't think they would make very good jelly.

The Alien returned to work today. He is doing well and seems to be on the mend. The only complaint that I have heard from him lately is the mower is getting stuck in our yard! It has to be those cubettes that just visited. I think they did a rain dance before they got here!! I may have to snip their feathers.

Our Church is taking several people to Alabama on a mission trip to help some of the people still trying to recover from Katrina. We really thought about going and know that we would love it but there are just too many things going on right now. Gerbeans' cub is going. He is looking forward to it. They leave in two weeks and will be gone for five days.

Our cub is in summer softball league. They had to cancel today's game due to, of all things, rain. Hopefully the ones next week won't be rained out.

Today was cater to Marbella day. She got her hair done and a massage. Wow, what a treat.

Thanks for the visit.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blackberry festivals with no blackberries should be a felony!!

Glad to hear the Alien is back on in the flying saucer, was worried about that process.

Did you take the boys along to get them massages too? ;-P

emc said...

Evidently it fizzled (in terms of actual blackberries being part of the festivities) in 1963.

Anonymous said...

The blackberry festival is an annual event that they have in Mcloud. Back in the 1900's they did a huge blackberry event, but today they just sell the berries and berry foods at the carnivals and such. Here's the story about the festival if your interested....straight from the chambers website.
Website is: mcloudchamber.com. Story below:

The McLoud Blackberry Festival began in the 1940's as a celebration of the end of harvest season for the local cash farm crop, blackberries. Since harvest season was completed just before July 4th, when a community picnic had been held since the town was founded in 1895, the two were combined to create the annual Blackberry festival. The town received national media coverage when the Blackberry Growers Association sent a crate of berries to President Harry Truman. The association disbanded in 1963 due to a poor market and farmers moved on to a more lucrative crop.

While blackberry farming may no longer be the agricultural strength of McLoud, the festival celebrated each year continues to be an exciting event for the town and draws thousands of attendees from throughout the nation. The 2008 festival is scheduled to begin Thursday, July 3rd at 5 p.m. and continue until Sunday, July 6th when it will end with a 10 p.m. fireworks display. Hours of operation each day will be as follows: Thursday, 5 p.m. - midnight; Friday, 8 a.m. - midnight and Saturday, 8 a.m. - midnight and Sunday 1 p.m. - 10 p.m.