A True Confession

October 13, 2007

Every October, our city has the three-day Foothills Fall Festival. It's huge. Thousands--and I do mean thousands-- of people come from all over the country for this extravaganza, which includes a weekend full of concerts, an arts and crafts fair, and a Children's Adventure Land. Everything is free except the concerts and the food. The weather is perfect. Our city is beautiful. REO Speedwagon played last night.

The day before the festival began, our American Heritage Girls were busy helping with festival preparation, in service to the community and to our chartering church.

Above, they are helping to decorate the Arts and Crafts area downtown under the guidance of one of the festival organizers.

Our chartering church is right across the street from all the action, so two other groups of girls spruced up the grounds of First Christian in preparation for the festival. Since our parking lots is in a prime location, our youth group parks cars for a donation. Jesse and a couple of his friends helped with that yesterday for a while.

So the festival is in full swing now. The city is bustling with excitement (and traffic). The weather is absolutely beautiful. And the kids are asking, as they do every year, "Are we going to go to the fall festival?"

So here's the true confession: I don't want to go to the fall festival. The thought gives me a headache. I am so happy to have something like this in our area! It is great for business and really unifies the community. Everyone is out there doing something, it seems. I love that our AHG troop can be a part of this.

But I don't want to go. It's all about the crowds and the lines. The word "throng" is entirely appropriate here: a large, densely packed crowd of people. The incongruity gets me every time: a beautiful fall day should not be a mass of bodies, long lines waiting for a turn at the giant inflatables, and noise. A beautiful fall day should be filled with the silence of the mountains or the swishing of leaves.

I am a bona fide curmudgeon. If anyone wants to take my poor children to the fall festival, please come and get them.