Celebrating Bullthistles

Yay! It looks like people are actually visiting my site again. Maybe I'm not so unpopular after all. Someday I will stop being so lazy and actually add pictures and fun things to this. Since I started it, however, nothing too exciting has happened in my life that would merit taking a picture. Maybe something great will happen this Saturday at the Royal Bullthistle Arts Festival. Yes..this is a real festival in my town. It's called "the Bullthistle" for short, and I have only ever missed it one time in my entire life. Here are some random facts/traditions about the Bullthistle:

• I have no idea what year it was started or who came up with it, but I think it began around 1965-1970.
• It is the first Saturday in August every year.
• There is a parade that starts at 11am with lots of floats and decorated cars from area businesses/groups and bands from high schools in the area...oh and fire departments. They line up on county road R and come down Fayette St. from south to north and end at county road S. They usually throw candy.
• There is an actual weed called a "bullthistle." It is green with purple flowery things and lots of thorns.
• After the parade, there is a get-together for the town in the grove (a/k/a park).
• At the grove, there are many arts and crafts, a podium for singing/announcements, inflatable jumping things, basketball and softball tournaments, and lots of food.
• Speaking of food, the most popular food is the chicken BBQ. However, since I can not eat chicken on the bone, I never eat there. I always eat at the Fine Arts stand and get a sausage sandwich. This year, I might go all out and get a "thistle burger," which is a sandwich that includes both a hamburger and a sausage patty. I will also get a vanilla milkshake.
• There is a contest in which people bring in random bullthistles that they have found in the area. There is a prize for the bullthistle with the most "girth", most "flowers", and most "thorns" (I think). I entered it one year and lost in all 3.
• There are some very dedicated members of the Royal Bullthistle Arts Festival committee. Without them, it probably wouldn't continue. They are so dedicated, that even if their children have moved all the way across the country, their children still take a vacation back to Fayette for the bullthistle festival weekend.
• After the festivities in the park have ended, our town puts on its fireworks display. It has always been this way. We never have our fireworks on the 4th of July. They're always the first weekend in August. I suppose there are 2 reasons for this: 1) It's when more people are in town to see them and 2) Phantom fireworks can donate all their leftover fireworks from the 4th of July. The fireworks used to be held in town at the baseball diamond, but one year some sparks came down and hit a bunch of people on the hill (no one got hurt though...just their blankets had little holes burnt into them lol). So now the fireworks are held out at "the lake," which would be Harrison Lake State Park, for those unfamiliar.

Although this list sounds like I am being sarcastic, I truly do enjoy this festival. It sounds like such a hokey thing to anyone who doesn't live here, but I have never known anything different. I love going up to the park and seeing people that I haven't seen in a year and catching up with everyone. It's just a good excuse to be outside and socialize with other people in the community and this year (along with every other year) I am looking forward to it.