This is a recycled latte from last year. One great thing about The Melon Festival in Milan, Ohio (my husband's hometown) is that pretty much all of what I said last year still rings true this year. As I sit here with the giant stuffed animal my father-in-law won for me at skee ball, we are all exhausted from the weekend fun, and I think I gained five pounds from the festival food. It was fabulous, and here are last year's observations...
Like many very small towns, I've learned, they have one weekend a year for some type of festival. In Rob's hometown, Labor Day weekend is the Melon Fest. Since I grew up in Atlanta, I never got to experience these festivals as a child. I think I missed out, and I can understand why our kids ask to go every year. There are carnival rides, games where you can pay $3 to win a plastic or stuffed prize, and festival food which is the best - brats, fries, tacos, funnel, cake, and the BEST corn on the cob I've ever tasted (sweet corn for those Ohio natives). Not to mention the cantelope and watermelon ice cream.
And then there is the parade. In all the years I've attended the festival, at least 5 now, I've been to the beer tent and two bars many times, but I've never made it to the parade until this year. Here's what I found out, each town in the area has some sort of festival during the summer, and at each of these events a queen is chosen. That queen then gets to go ride in a convertible or float at all of the other local parades. I'm pretty sure that Charlotte thought she was watching a parade filled with live princesses waving right at her. To top things off, almost everyone hands out candy as they pass by.
I don't know that I have a latte from all of this, it's more of a shout-out to the joys of small town America. I'm glad it's an experience my kids get to enjoy. I have quite a bit of fun myself, and even if they don't sell lattes from a booth at the festival, the corn on the cob is really out of this world!
