Windmill Fest 2023: The mayor won the pet competition
Last summer, shortly before Windmill Fest happened, I had the wind knocked out of me and it ruined my enjoyment of what's usually a good day. I was really glad to get to this year to sort of have a redo of things. Luckily, it worked out.
Now that the pet competition--it's no longer the pet parade--happens at noon, that gives dad and me time to do our normal Saturday errands before mom wants to go. I was told she'd be leaving by 11 o'clock whether I was there or not. We got back from shopping at 10:30. I still had to finish up with putting everything away and packing up my bag, but we did get out of the house before 11. I drove this year, parking at the library, and then we walked down to the farmers market.
This thing is *packed*, let me tell you. It's a scene. I don't know if it's like this every week or if it was just due to the festival, but there are all sorts of booths and things. I bought some cherries from a farm booth and mom got spring rolls from the Thai booth that she shared with me (eating experience 1). We then walked over to the Boardwalk Shops to check them out and came back to find seats for the pet competition.
We started off at one bench under the big tent, three benches back from the front. The view wasn't all that great there, so I moved to the front-most bench where two women and a dog were sitting and asked if we could join them. The younger woman said sure, but warned us her dog was friendly and would likely say hi. No worries; I work with two dogs. I did get a whisker tickle on my leg at one point; I thought it was a bug, actually, then saw the dog move away under the table. Just before everything started, the younger woman went, let's put on your costume! And proceeded to put on a shirt with a sweater vest and a yarn-like wig on the dog; I would later realize there was also a name tag as well.
Little did I know we were amongst a celebrity--a two-fer, in fact. Not only was our new friend dressed like the mayor (who is, in fact, a fan of sweater vests), she was also voted People magazine's cutest rescue in a nationwide contest. Mom was like, I voted for her! She even went to tell the owners that once the competition was over and we were waiting for the results. And, the dog, named Heaven, ended up winning Best Costume. It was very clever and cute, and Foltos, our regular emcee, insisted on getting a picture with the "mayor," whose hair he's been cutting for 40 years and he joked that he's never seen it look like that. Ha! It was pretty amusing.
I just went and re-read last year's entry, in part because I knew I'd had such a crappy, cranky time, and I think we had some repeat customers.
--Best jump went to a little girl and her tiny Yorkie. I think they won last year. The dog still jumped pretty high and did it multiple times, but Foltos wasn't that impressed given that it was one of the tiniest dogs in the competition. Now, if a 100-pound dog did that? *That* would be impressive. (Foltos went, I could throw that dog across the pond...I can't even lift these next dogs.)
--Unusual pets included three ferrets between two (unrelated) people; the single-ferret woman won. There was also a guinea pig, way bigger than I thought one would be, plus a boy with a snake. His dad came and stood right in front of me so I couldn't get a good shot of him. I thought for sure the snake would win. The girl with two ferrets is a repeat from last year, I think. Last year the ferrets took a dip in the cool-off pool but not by choice, and they wouldn't do tricks because she said they were unhappy with her. This year, she said they were overwhelmed by all the people and that's why they wouldn't do tricks. Many of the pets get stage fright.
--All the other contestants were dogs. Foltos made up a category (which did not win a prize) that was something like "has a face where I wouldn't get mad at it if it piddled on the floor." A couple of puppies fit that bill. One was a big puppy, too, though the other was still small enough to easily be carried.
--The English bulldog got a good cheer in this bulldog-friendly town.
After that, we thought about walking around, but unlike in pre-covid times, we couldn't leave the festival grounds. They're now fenced off, so that you have to leave through the single entrance/exit in order to get to the walkway around the peninsula. This also disappointed mom, since it meant there was no room for the craft vendors. We think they're more part of the farmers market at this point. Since we had to go back up that way, mom went and checked out the food vendors. The pet competition started at noon, which was when the food booths should have opened, but it was more like 1 o'clock from what she saw. While she did that, I was checking out the new Flag Day monument. I hadn't yet seen it in person. There's a big fence blocking much of the progress from view, but there are some holes in the fence coverings and I got a couple pictures. We also have a new Batavia flag, and one of the signs hanging on the fence had all the entrants for the flag competition on it. That was really neat! I had tried to go online to see them but couldn't find them. Some were clearly done by kids; a few looked like all the kids in a family drew some; a few were done by aldermen; several people submitted more than one. And a few were really good and I was kind of disappointed those didn't win in a way, though the winning design is simple but evocative of our town, plus it was done by a high school student, which is pretty cool. I've seen several of those flags in my neighborhood, plus one big one on Wilson Street on the way over to the fest. Related: For a small town, I have to say I'm really impressed with all the pride flags on display, and that even though June is over with, that they're still on display. Given that our pedestrian bridge over the river is known as the Peace Bridge, one would think that we'd be a welcoming community, but it's nice to really see that on display.
Back to the food vendors. It took me a few minutes to look at all the flags on the sign, and when I turned around...oh crap, where's mom? She was wearing a bright yellow shirt so she should be easy to spot--except if her back is to me because she's across the way ordering a walking taco (food experience 2). It was on the cool side when we left the house, still in the 60s, so we both had hoodies on and I wasn't expecting to look for her in black. At least she was close by. I was kind of impressed that there is now an official Fritos walking taco bag; it's turned on its side and big enough to hold 3.5 servings of chips. Mom insisted on sharing with me, which she was thrilled about once I told her how many servings were actually in the bag. She kept saying she couldn't have finished that all by herself. We then left the festival grounds so we could walk around the peninsula, which I haven't done in years. There's a bunch of new signage regarding the dam, and it's clear we're in a drought as there are a lot of dry spots plus greenery where there should be water, but it's still pretty scenic in that area. I even got to see an egret. Pretty.
The birding continued with a trip to Bird is the Word. Mom wasn't really into going but humored me. Hey, I need to get my fix. There were a half-dozen cockatiels in there! They were in three cages. Two were close together and the third was around the corner, so I didn't even see that last one until we were about to leave. Four were in one cage and were mostly sleeping, including two lutinos, which is the coloring Kirby had, though their "cheeks" were not as bright orange-red as hers were. The nearby one in his own cage was labeled as a "ladies' man," heh, and he is 2.5 years old; his hatch date was November of 2020. Ooh, a Scorpio. He was appreciative of our attention but didn't leave his rope perch to come say hi to us, though he kept looking like he was going to jump on the bars to come close to us. The last one was by a noisy bird and looked like it just wanted to sleep, poor thing. Our final stop was the library, where mom found a new book to borrow, and at the self checkout stand there were some coupons--buy a 16-ounce drink from the cafe, get a free pastry, today only. Mom stuffed a coupon in my hand and made a beeline over to the cafe, where she picked up a Coke Zero bottle from the fridge and then looked at the pastries. The lemon ricotta cake had jumped out at me immediately (Laura, it's gluten free!), but at $5 it was one of the most expensive items in the case. The gal behind the counter said anything in the case was fair game, so that was our choice (food experience 3). We ate it there before going back to the car.
Now this was a good mommy-daughter day. We had some crankiness, especially before we left, but overall we had a good time. The weather helped a lot, too, being mostly overcast and cool, though it warmed up by the time we left around 2:30. This is how it's supposed to be.
Now that the pet competition--it's no longer the pet parade--happens at noon, that gives dad and me time to do our normal Saturday errands before mom wants to go. I was told she'd be leaving by 11 o'clock whether I was there or not. We got back from shopping at 10:30. I still had to finish up with putting everything away and packing up my bag, but we did get out of the house before 11. I drove this year, parking at the library, and then we walked down to the farmers market.
This thing is *packed*, let me tell you. It's a scene. I don't know if it's like this every week or if it was just due to the festival, but there are all sorts of booths and things. I bought some cherries from a farm booth and mom got spring rolls from the Thai booth that she shared with me (eating experience 1). We then walked over to the Boardwalk Shops to check them out and came back to find seats for the pet competition.
We started off at one bench under the big tent, three benches back from the front. The view wasn't all that great there, so I moved to the front-most bench where two women and a dog were sitting and asked if we could join them. The younger woman said sure, but warned us her dog was friendly and would likely say hi. No worries; I work with two dogs. I did get a whisker tickle on my leg at one point; I thought it was a bug, actually, then saw the dog move away under the table. Just before everything started, the younger woman went, let's put on your costume! And proceeded to put on a shirt with a sweater vest and a yarn-like wig on the dog; I would later realize there was also a name tag as well.
Little did I know we were amongst a celebrity--a two-fer, in fact. Not only was our new friend dressed like the mayor (who is, in fact, a fan of sweater vests), she was also voted People magazine's cutest rescue in a nationwide contest. Mom was like, I voted for her! She even went to tell the owners that once the competition was over and we were waiting for the results. And, the dog, named Heaven, ended up winning Best Costume. It was very clever and cute, and Foltos, our regular emcee, insisted on getting a picture with the "mayor," whose hair he's been cutting for 40 years and he joked that he's never seen it look like that. Ha! It was pretty amusing.
I just went and re-read last year's entry, in part because I knew I'd had such a crappy, cranky time, and I think we had some repeat customers.
--Best jump went to a little girl and her tiny Yorkie. I think they won last year. The dog still jumped pretty high and did it multiple times, but Foltos wasn't that impressed given that it was one of the tiniest dogs in the competition. Now, if a 100-pound dog did that? *That* would be impressive. (Foltos went, I could throw that dog across the pond...I can't even lift these next dogs.)
--Unusual pets included three ferrets between two (unrelated) people; the single-ferret woman won. There was also a guinea pig, way bigger than I thought one would be, plus a boy with a snake. His dad came and stood right in front of me so I couldn't get a good shot of him. I thought for sure the snake would win. The girl with two ferrets is a repeat from last year, I think. Last year the ferrets took a dip in the cool-off pool but not by choice, and they wouldn't do tricks because she said they were unhappy with her. This year, she said they were overwhelmed by all the people and that's why they wouldn't do tricks. Many of the pets get stage fright.
--All the other contestants were dogs. Foltos made up a category (which did not win a prize) that was something like "has a face where I wouldn't get mad at it if it piddled on the floor." A couple of puppies fit that bill. One was a big puppy, too, though the other was still small enough to easily be carried.
--The English bulldog got a good cheer in this bulldog-friendly town.
After that, we thought about walking around, but unlike in pre-covid times, we couldn't leave the festival grounds. They're now fenced off, so that you have to leave through the single entrance/exit in order to get to the walkway around the peninsula. This also disappointed mom, since it meant there was no room for the craft vendors. We think they're more part of the farmers market at this point. Since we had to go back up that way, mom went and checked out the food vendors. The pet competition started at noon, which was when the food booths should have opened, but it was more like 1 o'clock from what she saw. While she did that, I was checking out the new Flag Day monument. I hadn't yet seen it in person. There's a big fence blocking much of the progress from view, but there are some holes in the fence coverings and I got a couple pictures. We also have a new Batavia flag, and one of the signs hanging on the fence had all the entrants for the flag competition on it. That was really neat! I had tried to go online to see them but couldn't find them. Some were clearly done by kids; a few looked like all the kids in a family drew some; a few were done by aldermen; several people submitted more than one. And a few were really good and I was kind of disappointed those didn't win in a way, though the winning design is simple but evocative of our town, plus it was done by a high school student, which is pretty cool. I've seen several of those flags in my neighborhood, plus one big one on Wilson Street on the way over to the fest. Related: For a small town, I have to say I'm really impressed with all the pride flags on display, and that even though June is over with, that they're still on display. Given that our pedestrian bridge over the river is known as the Peace Bridge, one would think that we'd be a welcoming community, but it's nice to really see that on display.
Back to the food vendors. It took me a few minutes to look at all the flags on the sign, and when I turned around...oh crap, where's mom? She was wearing a bright yellow shirt so she should be easy to spot--except if her back is to me because she's across the way ordering a walking taco (food experience 2). It was on the cool side when we left the house, still in the 60s, so we both had hoodies on and I wasn't expecting to look for her in black. At least she was close by. I was kind of impressed that there is now an official Fritos walking taco bag; it's turned on its side and big enough to hold 3.5 servings of chips. Mom insisted on sharing with me, which she was thrilled about once I told her how many servings were actually in the bag. She kept saying she couldn't have finished that all by herself. We then left the festival grounds so we could walk around the peninsula, which I haven't done in years. There's a bunch of new signage regarding the dam, and it's clear we're in a drought as there are a lot of dry spots plus greenery where there should be water, but it's still pretty scenic in that area. I even got to see an egret. Pretty.
The birding continued with a trip to Bird is the Word. Mom wasn't really into going but humored me. Hey, I need to get my fix. There were a half-dozen cockatiels in there! They were in three cages. Two were close together and the third was around the corner, so I didn't even see that last one until we were about to leave. Four were in one cage and were mostly sleeping, including two lutinos, which is the coloring Kirby had, though their "cheeks" were not as bright orange-red as hers were. The nearby one in his own cage was labeled as a "ladies' man," heh, and he is 2.5 years old; his hatch date was November of 2020. Ooh, a Scorpio. He was appreciative of our attention but didn't leave his rope perch to come say hi to us, though he kept looking like he was going to jump on the bars to come close to us. The last one was by a noisy bird and looked like it just wanted to sleep, poor thing. Our final stop was the library, where mom found a new book to borrow, and at the self checkout stand there were some coupons--buy a 16-ounce drink from the cafe, get a free pastry, today only. Mom stuffed a coupon in my hand and made a beeline over to the cafe, where she picked up a Coke Zero bottle from the fridge and then looked at the pastries. The lemon ricotta cake had jumped out at me immediately (Laura, it's gluten free!), but at $5 it was one of the most expensive items in the case. The gal behind the counter said anything in the case was fair game, so that was our choice (food experience 3). We ate it there before going back to the car.
Now this was a good mommy-daughter day. We had some crankiness, especially before we left, but overall we had a good time. The weather helped a lot, too, being mostly overcast and cool, though it warmed up by the time we left around 2:30. This is how it's supposed to be.