Pancakes, Dogs And Primates

Sometimes we drive the blog, sometimes the blog drives us. Usually its a mixture of both. So it was last Saturday when carefully timed, we made it out for not one, not two, but THREE area events for some fun and blog fodder. We were up early, the weather was windy but perfect...



...and we made our first stop: the annual humongous Pancake Breakfast in downtown Springfield.



This was very well attended when we got there about 9:30ish, although the lines for pancakes were loonnnng, long long.



It appeared more people were waiting for their pancakes than eating them. So we forwent breakfast and walked up and down the street for a good bout of people watching.







All types and walks of local life were mixed and mingled together, waiting, eating or watching shows of which there were many; several kids were performing at three or four different stage areas along the street.







We hung out and watched a couple shows, listened to Mayor Sarno give a rousing speech, and let the bloggerette take in all the sights and sounds, until 11 o'clock rolled around and it was time to move on to the next stop:



The first annual Dakin Shelter sponsored Bark in the Park, in Springfield's Forest Park. We got there right at it's commencement, and most of the people (and dogs) were just filtering in.







Several booths were selling assorted animal and pet related items, a band was playing on stage, and dog acrobatics and feats of skill were being performed by the baseball field.





Not to mention some of the friendliest volunteers you could hope to meet...



...and the League of Dog Owners, as I call them: a close knit club, of people who have never met yet apparently share some inherent genome that allows them to get along surprisingly well.



Moving on from there, it was a quick lunch break/ picnic over at Mt. Tom state park...

...on our way up to the hills and the Cummington fairgrounds; where the Hilltown Spring Festival, or 'Spring Fling' was already in high gear.



There was some of the traditional hilltown festival fare...



But mostly people were dancing, people were swaying, to the rhythms of bands and singing troupes performing one after the other on two stages.



From what we witnessed, they were grooving to:

This oddly great sounding bagpipe and string duo:



...who were followed on another stage by the young and very talented Freight Shakers:



...who were followed by the locally famous and unique sounds of the Primate Fiasco.





Go ahead, try to get this tune out of your head, (once they got tuba levels right, of course...)



A long full day. Much travel, much to see and hear. The valley is brimming with this sort of thing any given weekend; just have to poke around. Maybe some kind of local events calender would fit on this blog...

Now, time to get home again.



We were whooped.

Blue Ribbon Event

We headed up Route 9 Saturday afternoon, to have a look at the 140th annual Cummington Fair. By the looks of the flyer we saw in the newspaper, it was supposed to be a pretty big one; and it was. Walking in we could tell that this is a true country fair, by and mostly for, country folk. There are the traditional games, rides, and midway, all nicely set up...





But more than that, this is definitely a farmer's event. We started our tour with a look at the tractors old and new, that work the farmers' lands.





Right nearby there was a long midway devoted to small, mostly gas-powered machines and engines. Lots of different types from lots of different decades; but all of them still sputtered along, rigged up with belts, wheels, cogs, spindles, things that turn, things that pump, things that cut. I took some pictures but perhaps it's best viewed by video. (Kind of rushed, to keep it short, but you'll get the idea)...



There's a comedian (can't remember his name) that does a bit about how all farmers are missing at least one digit, and well, there you go.

We continued on to where some covered bleachers are set up, for double viewing. On one side you can watch an old fashioned oxen pull. Brute strength, plain and simple.



Meanwhile on the other side can be viewed a stage performance; at this particular time it was one of those knife throwing shows...



Murphy's Law comes within inches:



And while on the topic of knife work, nearby are some cool wood carvings, courtesy of Custom Carvings.



In an adjacent tent comedy magician Tommy James delights old and young, with really a pretty good little show. In the picture below, he had the crowd stare at the center of a spinning disk for 30 seconds, then look immediately at his face. This created a mass optical illusion where, to the whole crowd, his head appeared to balloon in size..!



Around the way, a small crowd had formed. It was time for a motorcycle Thunder Dome type show.





Amazingly, they pulled off several tries, with increasing speed and varying directions, without it getting messy. Good job. Imagine what the practice sessions were like though...



From there we went into the coop....Being a born and raised suburbanite, I always assumed Foul came in three varieties. That is, you got yer white chikins', yer brown chikins', and yer roostas'. But boy was I wrong. Witness these specimens:

















Inside this building there were also all manners of rabbits, turkeys and ducks. I had no idea livestock was so multi-splendored...

We stepped into this old Grange Hall looking building, for a look at some Blue Ribbon prize winners. The best of local product...















There was a couple of honey-bee displays, with honey-made products for sale.



I asked the keepers if the mysterious world-wide Colony Collapse Disorder has affected the bees around here. He said his bee population falls by about 75% every winter, as apposed to about 10% a couple decades ago. But actually, most of the loss isn't from Colony Collapse Disorder at all. The real dangers are mites, bacterias, and a few other reasons. He shook his head. It's tough to keep bees nowadays...



Up on the second floor were more artsy-crafty type award winners. Kelly and I found this quilt with family pictures sown in particularly nice.



A Milk Bottle collection hark-ens back to the good ol' days of, well, everything....



The Hall has a nice second floor porch, with a fine view of the fair. We came down and had a quick lunch; hamburgers, clam chowder and grilled cheese with turkey. And donated to the 4H Club to boot.




On to bigger game...at the petting zoo.
Farm Girl Kelly found this guy's sweet-spot in no time...



He and his brothers were all freshly shaven, and feeling fresher for it.



While these guys gruffly waited their turn...



What?....We're Ducks.



This one looked up impatiently...and finally bleated out "It's a petting zoo, you know."



But unfortunately for him, all it sounded like was "Baaaaaaaahhhh"....

Time to head home. It was a good day at the fair.

(Click here for more of the fair, from Local Buzz's Greg Saulmon...)