Fall Feastivals! (I mean festivals...I don't go just for the food....)

Hands down, October is my favorite month of the year. It even trumps my birth month, June. I'm not sure why. It must be the crisp air, Halloween, harvest time, the changing/falling leaves that crunch under foot, fond childhood memories, and festivals. Last year, I made a point to go to as many fall festivals as possible. I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. This year, spare time is not as abundant. I was able to make it to two awesome events: the 1812 Festival, commemorating the Battle of the Mississinewa and the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, re-creation of the annual fall gathering of the French and Native Americans which took place Fort Ouiatenon. Left to right: Eating at the 1812 fest. *Chicken Dumplings (Why do little old church ladies feel the need to color their dumplings bright yellow?) and "War Balls" a.k.a. donut holes. *My dad eating chicken and noodles. This is his picture face. He thinks that he is smiling. You're not, Dad, quite the opposite. *Under a pound of butter and a cup of brown sugar and cinnamon was a steaming, baked sweet potato. It was gooooooooooood. *A brat, drowning in onions and peppers. *Fry bread, which happened to be quite disappointing. It's ok, the sweet potato made up for it.
Besides food, there's a lot to see at such festivals. Here are some of the characters we ran across: my brother in a funny hat, a walking stick (What a cool bug! I'd forgotten about them. If you haven't seen one of these in person, you're missing out.), lady playing a stringed instrument (To play, she hit each string with a spoon-shaped stick.), and a violinist who brought tears to on-listeners. Characters continued: A battle scene (An announcer was pointing out what each uniform meant - the type of soldier, which battles they were part of, etc.), a print maker and his old timey printing press, boaters on the Mississinewa River. Last but not least, an adorable reenactment baby! Augie (Augustus) was his name; his REAL name. What an animated sprite!

Food from the Feast of the Hunter's Moon: Scottish Forfar Bridies, Sweet Potato Muffin, Ginger Bread, and (hold your breath, bunny lovers) Rabbit Stew.

Here are some characters from the Feast.

Apple Dolls!!!!

Ahhh, I'm contented. Enough autumn festival is under my belt for this year. I'm off to enjoy the rest of this colorful month. On to pumpkin carving and pumpkin baking!