Small Town Festivites

I am from Phoenix, Arizona but currently live in Wisconsin. The town my mom lives in (Wautoma) has typical "small town" features. It's population is not unincorporated (which means that there's not enough people living there to count as a "population"), in fact, I remember the population sign said 1,996. I am sure that there are a lot more residents than that since that sign was posted. Nonetheless, you get an idea of how small it is.

Every year they have an event called "Augustfest". There's is a craft fair in the little library parking lot. I love craft fairs because it is a great place to support your local "crafters" and also to get some ideas on stuff to make yourself! The craft fair also features some delicious Midwest snack like corn-on-the-cob dipped in butter and walking tacos.





My favorite attraction at "Augustfest" for Noah is the free, yes I said FREE, pony rides. You don't find the word "free" very often.

While we were at the craft fair there was a woman dressed as a clown and she was making balloon animals and other fun objects. She had a decent sized line in front of her packed with kids that I decided couldn't take extremely long. 10 minutes later and barely a dent made in the line, we walked away. Noah was a little bummed out but it was way too hot to stand in line and I didn't realize how long it took to make a balloon animal. Our second stop at "Augustfest" was the polka tent :)  We needed to feed the twins and we enjoyed some fine entertainment and shade while Noah was able to jump around in a bouncy house for a while (which was also FREE!). About 15 minutes after we arrived to the polka tent, guess who shows up!? Dizzy the Clown! And Noah got his sword and 2 laser guns. (2 because he popped the first one, cried, and Dizzy came over and made him a new one. Very sweet of her).

Our final stop after the polka tent was to watch the duck race. Maybe I should specify, the "rubber ducky race". Apparently the duck race is a huge deal. Each yellow rubber duck is $3 and the winner gets a trip to Las Vegas. We missed the release of the ducks so we made it to the finish line just in time for  a herd of yellow ducks coming down the little creak and men in waders ready to fetch the winners. My mom finds this tradition a bit creepy, like a scene out of a Stephen King novel. The picture shows only a fraction of the amount of ducks there were. There were hundreds of rubber duckies. They just kept coming. 

The family friendly atmosphere, combined with free attractions and a craft fair made for a fun Saturday. The only thing missing was my hubby who is still training with the Marines until next weekend.