Bluffton Street Fair

 Last week was the Bluffton Street Fair. Those of you who are from the Bluffton area (because I know you're reading!) can just go ahead and prepare to laugh at me. :) 

We had been told by so many (including some of you reading) that the Street Fair is a big deal that we shouldn't miss. So we went! And no amount of explanation could have prepared us for it.

First, if we could just talk about the parking? I had suggested just walking from where we live. It would have been a hike, for sure, but I had heard that parking would be a beast. So we drove, and guess what? Parking was a beast. We finally found some free parking - almost out of town, actually - and hiked into the middle of the craziness.

Next, if we could just talk about the parade? Our neighbor had told me on Tuesday that she was in the parade, so imagine our surprise when we arrived on Thursday night to find...a parade! What? We asked and found out there are THREE parades. THREE!!!! I was not prepared for a three-parade festival! (Also, we apparently missed WBCL in the parade night we saw. Sadness. Should have gone earlier, I guess. Or known there was another parade. Take your pick.)

You might remember that earlier this summer, we went to a different parade that was part of the Adams County 4H fair. We had been told that fair was basically just an animal show, with the parade being the grand star of the week. That gave us the false impression that fairs are not the big deal here that they are back in Howard County where we come from.

This Street Fair was like our hometown county fair dumped into the middle of a town. I'm sure we looked like perfect idiots just walking around with our jaws dropped, looking at all the rides on the streets! 

We had eaten dinner at home, but we wanted a treat, so we found an elephant ear to share. This thing was MASSIVE! And good! And the same price as parking, so Ryan said he felt really good about the fact that we saved the parking fee. (Ha!)

We walked around and actually found some people we knew!

We found Rob - as in our boss at WillowBridge - and his family. We also found one of our other WillowBridge co-workers and her husband. And then we found a guy from high school. We stared at him and he stared at us and neither of us could possibly imagine why we were seeing the other. We told him we lived here now, which surprised him, and he told us his wife's family was from this area. 

We walked around until we thought we had seen everything we could find, and then we hiked back to our car.

It was a perfect evening. Great weather. Great food. Free parking. Fun friends. 

And next year, we'll be prepared for the big deal it truly is. :)