"Hey Day," the ham festival (really), and other early autumn small town rituals

So far, the end of September and beginning of October has been quite interesting in Smalltown (Spring Hill) Tennessee. We went to the elementary school fall festival yesterday, and I was really tickled at the way the community gathers for an event like this. At first, the dunk booth highlighted Amanda's 5th grade teacher from last year, but just before she got to the front of the line, a man changed places with him. Turned out, it was Danny Leverette, Smalltown's mayor. Suddenly the line got very long-lots of folks are pretty irritated with Danny's take on growth-everyone wants to live here, but they don't want anyone else living here.

Anyway, the highlight of the evening was even better. As the sun and temperature dropped, Amanda entered a drawing for a home-made scarecrow. There were several being raffled. Many people entered multiple times, but Amanda only entered once. Heather then went on to participate in a cake walk (where she won her choice of homemade goodies) and we wandered around chatting with various people we recognized from school and church. It was amazing how many folks were there, and how many folks knew each other.

Just as we got home, the phone rang. Guess who won a scarecrow? So, greetings once again from the Hawksnst, autumn style.


Then today, we went to another festival. This one was called the "Ham Festival."
:-) It was actually a lot of fun.

A state senator showed up (one who isn't currently being indicted, I'm pretty sure), and awarded a ham certificate to the winner of the hog-calling contest, an 82 year old woman from Shelbyville, TN (an even smaller Smalltown). There were also contests for the best hams in Middle Tennessee.

Of course, there were a few booths with some crafts, and a great kid section where kids could climb and play in bounce houses, inflatable obstacle courses, giant slides, etc., hosted by the area churches, including our own. At the fair-food place, there was the usual roasted corn, funnel cakes and also some incredible barbeque. We all came home with heartburn, but it was worth it.











The highlight was probably the 10 acre corn-maze, which was pretty incredible. I drove by it earlier this week, and nearly had a panic attack. Evidently I'm cornophobic. Bob took the girls in it, while I waited outside. I couldn't go in-something about it just scared me to death. The kids had a great time though.














Meghan's last highschool homecoming was last night; I hope she can send us some pictures so we can post them here. Right now for her, life is much about being consumed with college applications and some pretty heavy decisions. She's hoping for FSU, and has some pretty awesome grades, so I'd expect that first choice to be what happens for her. She's got an off-the-charts grade point average and is smarter than any kid should be. Watch this space for pictures! (No pressure, Meghan!)

There's alot to be said for Smalltown festivals. The ladies at the quilt booth were wondering if I'd stop by, our family doctor came over and said hi to Bob, the girls and me (and knew us all by name), and we had a day when memories were made. Wish we could have shared it with you in person but this is as close as we can get.

More soon...till then-be blessed!